Graceful Degradation
by Tirfarthuan
Summary: Cutting corners hurt Precia once and she wasn't going to risk Alicia's last chance by doing so again. And when the Arthra encounters a distortion of time-space, things get dicey on NonAdministered Planet 97 without the TSAB to support Nanoha and Yuuno...
1. Chapter 1: Preventative Measures

**For those of you who are about to be confused by the first part of the chapter, read it through slowly. It is written from the point of view of a woman who is slowly going insane over the course of twenty or so years. Imagine that you are watching everything through Precia's eyes, with the only sound you hear being her thoughts. I've purposefully left it ambiguous as to what is spoken and what is not, and to get an idea of what other people are saying you will need to infer from Precia's reactions. I wanted to give you a front row view of her mind, and I think I've succeeded, but if you review then please give me your impression of it.**

**Also, don't expect me to use this experimental method often. It is really hard to get into the mindset of a crazy person. To get answers to some of your questions, see the longer author's note at the end of the chapter.**

**Lastly:**

Graceful degradation**: **the ability of a computer, machine, electronic system or network to maintain limited functionality even when a large portion of it has been destroyed or rendered inoperative. The purpose of graceful degradation is to prevent catastrophic failure. Unlike fault-tolerant design, which would have a back-up system activate to maintain full functionality, graceful degradation allows a damaged system to perform its function in spite of decreased capability.

* * *

><p>Chapter 1: Preventative Measures<p>

_Never again._

I'll just cut a few corners to make the deadline. A little bit of money saved, just enough to keep the project on budget. Just a few unnecessarily redundant systems shaved off of that extra safety cushion that nobody ever needs. Nothing has ever gone wrong before, and there is no reason to expect anything will go wrong. It isn't as if we're researching anything truly dangerous, after all. This isn't as risky as working with a Lost Logia or trying to create a star or something. It won't make a difference.

_Never again._

How do you tell a little girl that she isn't going to have a little sister? I don't want to confuse her, but she's a bit too young to learn about what it takes to make a baby. Not the natural way, and definitely not Jail's way. Honestly, that man's work is just short of criminal; if he asks me to help with that project one more time… If only he could learn to be ethical he'd be allowed on big sanctioned projects like mine, imagine what we'd be able to do together! But only after he gets some serious psychological help. Or a lobotomy. But I'm not about to tell Alicia any of that, so I chuckle, giving her a hug, and distract her with a cookie.

_Never again._

Alicia looks so excited. After this project is finally over, I'll finally be able to spend more time with her. But for now it is good to show her around while I have the chance, to show her all of the important work that is going on. Everyone here is building a better future, and not just for Mid-Childa, but for all of the administered worlds. Alicia looks awed and proud of me after telling her that. I knew this would be a good experience for her.

_Never again._

What's happening? Why did the equipment… A power surge from the reactor? The reactor is what? Quick, the shut-down sequence! All non-essential personnel clear the room, start evacuating just in case! It isn't working! Emergency shut-down failure? This can't be happening. This can't be happening, this is wrong, why isn't this working? What is the status on the evacuation? Damn! Keep trying, we have to at least keep it under control until they get to safety! What, Alicia, why are you still- No! All mages, defend those around-

_Never again._

How dare they? After they pushed me into- No, of course you're right, they aren't worth my anger, those pathetic worms. Thank you for stabilizing Alicia, I owe you a debt I can never repay. Help you with your project? I don't know, Jail, I've always been doubtful about it, and while I can certainly help with Linker Core construction I have little experience with cloning. But I need to do something, and the implications of the technology could hold the key to saving Alicia… Such extensive biological manipulation; perhaps it could enable me to do what is currently impossible. It is… fuzzy in a moral sense, but it is for a good cause. Besides, I've seen a side of Jail lately that I never saw before. As for that other little dropped hint of his… he may be unstable, but after what he did for Alicia I'd be hypocritical if I didn't help him create children of his own, even if that's even less approved that Project Fate is. I don't think I'm ready to get fully involved though. I need to recover, and if there is a simpler solution I want to find it. But I'll work with you on the side, and if it seems like it is going somewhere I am more than willing to join full-time.

_Never again._

But at this point there isn't anything more we can do, is there? We still haven't found a way to make the process safe and viable for normal humans. Maybe in a few decades we'll have the technology to save her, but- wait, what did you say? I don't know, you know how I've always felt about that. But I suppose that if I refuse to consider it for much longer I'll be too old to raise Alicia like I want to. There isn't really an ethical issue, and the alternative is- Yes, thank you for being so understanding. I'll do it. For her I'll do anything. This was my fault, I'll make it right again. If you would use your resources to help me with this I will be eternally grateful. Hah! Yes, I suppose it isn't really problematic for you, is it. You've been waiting for this sort of chance for so long, people are hardly lining up to have newer, better versions of them replace them.

_Never again._

Success! After so long, so long slaving away at this project, finally success! Jail is pleased to have succeeded, and he keeps cackling about finally having proof of concept and some nonsensical plan, but I couldn't care less. I hope his daughters don't imitate that particular aspect of his personality. What tests we have been able to run indicate that the full memory transfer will work, so I'm moving Alicia and her new body to the Garden of Time to complete the process. There have been concerns expressed about the project's ethical standards, and I refuse to allow any possibility of interference! It has to work. It has to save her. Almost twenty-two years… If it doesn't… I don't know what I'd do. It will work. I have to believe that.

_Never again._

Damn it! What went wrong? Alicia's body, Alicia's memories, but this, this THING is NOT Alicia! This, this, creature is just a byproduct of that failed project, taunting me with its falseness! That banal faker is nothing more than a disgusting clone! It deserves no name of its own! Calm, calm, be rational, think through the options. I can't think clearly with that, that, Fate around, and I need to think clearly to save Alicia. I have to save her. If I don't, then her death will be my fault, and I can't live with that. I need options. I have plenty of space here to work, plenty of power, plenty of resources, I'll be able come up with something. But what to do with… Fate. She'll be useful if trained, it would be foolish to get rid of her. It will be painful to see her, but for Alicia's sake I need to keep my options open. Perhaps if I create a familiar to do it for me?

_Never again._

I think I have something. No, I know I do! This is a long shot, I'll admit, but nothing else has worked and this might very well- Gah! Why do these coughs keep coming and why do they hurt so much? I'll get the familiar to assist me with some scans later, if I get sick I'll be delayed in saving Alicia. That can't happen. I have to save her. I HAVE TO.

_Never again!_

My research seems to indicate that it will work. Al-Hazard can help me save Alicia. It will take time to find the most probable location, and then after that I'll need to cause a dimensional dislocation to open the path. I'll need to find some way of directing the dislocation as well. The TSAB will try to stop me if they discover me, so I'll need to take steps. I cut corners once, and Alicia was kil- no, Alicia was hurt. I won't do that again. Redundancy. Fault-tolerant design. Back-up plans. By the time I'm done, not even the full power of the TSAB will be able to stop me!

_Never Again!_

The familiar is trying to force me to eat with Fate again, as if I have time or the interest. I'll eat and sleep when the generators are all online, but not with her! We are far too close to Mid-Childa for my liking, and I am not going to be prevented from saving Alicia by the TSAB forces stationed there. This system will decrease the disruption caused by moving the Garden of Time to one short burst; those fools will dismiss it as a random occurrence, a shift in time-space within the dimensional sea that can be safely dismissed. I suppose it will also limit the damage of the dimensional dislocation when the time comes. But what does that really matter? Alicia is the only important concern. Perhaps I can find some other uses for this technology, integrate it into the defenses. Controlled time-space distortions have never properly been weaponized before, most likely because of the dangers of experimentation and the sheer devastation such weapons could create. But I have the technology – and what does it matter if my enemies are destroyed? And I could work faster if that stupid familiar would just SHUT UP about Fate!

_Never AgaiN!_

Yes, enjoy the truth you mangy feline. You wanted to know? There you have it! Your precious Fate is little more than a doll, a fake. My daughter? Hah! I only have one daughter. My Alicia, my dear Alicia, she's the only daughter I have. Fate is a tool, to be discarded after I have no more use for her. Just. Like. You. Happy now?

_NeVer AgaiN!_

It seems that your usefulness has come to an end, familiar. It is a pity. After all, once you are gone I will have to interact with that thing. But for my Alicia's sake I will persevere. Keeping you around drains me and exacerbates my condition. I need all the time I can get to save my Alicia! Oh stop looking so frightened. I'm not going to kill you. That would be a waste! After all, I never did get to finish my research on familiars. I could always use more data on what happens when I take back my magic from you. You were healthy when I made you, so you might even survive! Hm? I suppose you are right. It won't make much difference to you, will it? But it isn't as if you were ever truly sentient to begin with. I admit I expected you to struggle at least a little. Don't want to fight your master? For that thing? You don't want to fight me because of that thing's feelings? You insolent worm! How dare you! Fate is not my daughter! Fate will never be my daughter! Alicia is my only daughter! Suffer for your crime! Ah, her screams are delightful as she fries.

_NeVer AgaiN!_

Begone, Fate! I am working! You too, familiar. I have more important things to do than to interact with you mongrels! Why Fate bothered to create you I will never know. Finally! Why do they not leave me be? Hmph. They would leave me be if I told them of Alicia- but Fate still has her uses. I'll be sure to explain just how worthless she is before I journey to Al-Hazard with Alicia. Maybe I'll even leave that thing alive to suffer in the knowledge of the truth! Until then, perhaps I should take some time to teach them not to bother me. I'll just have to make sure that 'my dear Fate' knows that it is for her own good. Yes, it will be good to put her in her place!

_NeVer AgaIN!_

At last, preparations are complete. The Garden of Time's defenses are fully operational, and all is ready. Just one last piece of the puzzle, or perhaps twenty-one. Those Jewel Seeds are just the thing, if the preliminary reports are correct. I'll have to be subtle, I've gotten this far by avoiding the TSAB and I'm not about to risk changing that now. Perhaps my old friend Jail will help? He's always been so eager to put his daughters' abilities to the test, and he is far from fond of the TSAB. And if he can't manage it I'll do it myself if that's what I need to do to save my Alicia. If necessary, I'll use the full force of the Garden of Time to accomplish my goals. If necessary, worlds will BURN!

_NeVEr AgaIN!_

And to think that I believed there would be difficulty in obtaining the Jewel Seeds! An accident! A simple accident! I didn't even have to do anything! Of course, incompetent fools that they are, the TSAB has no idea where the Jewel Seeds went, so I'll have to send Fate to search the possible locations. Most likely they are in one of these five dimensions, and thankfully due to the orientation of them in relation to the point in the dimensional sea that the Jewel Seeds were lost in, that is a mere five possible worlds. It will take time, but not all are Non-Administered Worlds. Three are uninhabited, and only one has a culture with any understanding of magic. Al-Hazard is within our reach, Alicia! Soon, we will be together again!

_NeVER AGaIN!_

Non-Administered Planet #97, is it? Not ideal, but simple enough. That clone should be capable of collecting the Lost Logia. It isn't as if anyone there can stop a mage as long as she takes care, at worst she will be forced to retreat if the TSAB figures out what is going on, an unlikely prospect considering just how far ahead of them I am. I suppose I will tell her to be cautious but swift, much as it pains me to speak with her. That fake will be at the end of its usefulness soon enough, and then it can be just Alicia and I once more. And everything will be perfect.

_NeVER AGAIN!_

That useless thing! Interrupted by a mage? A barely trained brat! And trying to buy your way into my good graces with a gift! The only gift I want is my Alicia! But I can't tell her that, not yet, so I smile at her. And I tell her what I did wrong, and I make sure the lesson sticks. She is lucky I am a kind woman, or the flesh would be flayed off her back for her failure! I think I'll grant her the opportunity to get started on her work again rather than keep her bound in the hall to contemplate her punishment. That familiar will keep her in good enough condition to do so. Seems that the wolf has some use after all! The pathetic animal seems to be getting angry, but Fate is such a 'good girl', isn't she! Oh, yes, you stupid clone, things will get better once you do your job. Everything will be as it should be. And I'll enjoy showing you just why your presence won't be required.

_NEVER AGAIN!_

* * *

><p>"Admiral, we've picked up some kind of distortion in the dimensional sea."<p>

Admiral Lindy Harlaown, commander of the L-class ship _Arthra_, instantly put all of her work aside, picking up on the suppressed tension in her subordinate's voice. Moving swiftly- but calmly, that was very important, if she looked worried her crew would react negatively- she positioned herself a few steps to the right of Officer Cadet Amy Limietta's terminal such that the young lady would be able to see her and she would be able to see the information Amy was getting without looming behind her or looking over her shoulder. The Admiral took care to not press the officer cadet, as she could feel that something important was happening and needed to have accurate information in order to respond properly. Rushed people made mistakes. Asking unnecessary questions would not help.

Amy didn't make her wait more than ten seconds before continuing. "It doesn't seem to be a natural phenomenon. It's some sort of time-space distortion, and a large one, but if it's a ship it isn't anything like the ones we are familiar with. I don't think the distortion is dangerous, but beyond that I can't say."

Lindy considered this, and weighed her options. On the one hand, she had a responsibility to patrol this region of space for active threats and to avoid turning inactive problems into active ones. However, anything that affects the fabric of time-space negatively should be examined and, if necessary, dealt with. Trying to get a better idea of the current situation, she decided to ask Amy's assessment of the situation.

"Why do you say it isn't dangerous?"

"Well, I would hardly say that it isn't dangerous at all, but compared to anything else that I could compare it to it seems positively benign. The distortion is localized and about as stable as an artificial effect imposed on the dimensional sea can be. Furthermore, it hasn't caused a noteworthy level of damage to the area around it. Of course, whatever caused it could easily be dangerous, and I can't say for sure what the cause is."

"If you had to guess?"

Amy hesitated, but an encouraging smile from her teal-haired superior officer convinced the brunette to answer. "A Lost Logia seems most likely. Other than that, it could possibly be a large number of high ranked mages with no limiters- that much magic would have an effect on the fabric of time-space, but there isn't any real data on just how that would affect the dimensional sea. Maybe it could be constructed by a group of researchers specifically trying to get that effect? I don't know, I can't figure out why someone would build something like whatever it is, and I can hardly get a reading on it. Whatever it is, it's not anything I recognize."

"How large is the distortion?"

"Pretty large," Amy answered, pulling up the image of a multicolored blur on one of the larger screens, "Much larger than our ship. Beyond that I can't really say. This is dimensional space; everything is relative. As for what's inside? Depending on what is causing the distortion it could be as large as a small moon or small enough to hold in the palm of your hand. I have no data on what is beyond the distortion, or even how thick the distortion is."

The more Lindy heard the more certain she became that they needed to take a closer look. "Is it safe to get closer? Could we get far enough inside the distortion to get a better idea of what is causing it?"

Amy hummed thoughtfully, trying to think of a way to put it. "Do you remember the show back on Administered Planet #24 that we dragged Chrono to?"

Lindy blinked. "Yes, why?"

"Remember the part where that big cat jumped through a flaming hoop?"

"Ah!" exclaimed the admiral. "So it's like that?"

"Pretty much," said Amy, "except that in this case the ring would be a magical artifact that tries to set us on fire. Well, metaphorically; the distortion will actually try to- well, you get the idea. The Arthra is tough; it might be able to take it. But if the distortion is worse as we go along, or if it suddenly spikes in strength then all bets are off."

Lindy cursed mentally. They definitely needed to look into this, but there didn't seem to be a safe way to go about it. It would be a big risk to go in blind, but the nature of dimensional space gave them next to no options under the best of circumstances; it was no coincidence that only the desperate or the ridiculously confident would engage an enemy outside of normal space. Add in dimensional distortions and this was like activating a half dozen Lost Logia at the same time. While BLINDFOLDED. But the preservation of time-space was their mandate. Nothing was more important than preventing dimensional dislocations from occurring. She just hoped that she wouldn't regret this later

"Notify the rest of the crew as to what is going on. Increase our defenses to the highest level that we can sustain them at indefinitely, and attempt to contact whatever is causing the anomaly. Send a data burst, audio, and audio/visual; we can't assume that anyone in there has all of our capabilities. Message is as follows: 'This is Admiral Lindy Harlaown of the Time-Space Administration Bureau, broadcasting from the vessel _Arthra_. Please respond.'"

Unfortunately, it appeared that there would be no easy answers, as no response was received despite repeated attempts. After several hours, Lindy reluctantly gave the order to slowly approach the anomaly after transmitting what little data they had back to headquarters.

* * *

><p>L-class Ship <em>Arthra<em> reactivating.

Automated emergency response systems online.

Initializing system check…

Initializing system check…

Error: Program not found.

Probable reasons for Error: Program not found:

-Physical damage to data storage units.

-Deletion of programs.

Course of action: Seek assistance from technicians.

Searching…

Searching…

Unable to contact technicians.

Scanning…

Scanning…

Probable cause found, barrier has isolated technical support personnel from emergency response systems. Electromagnetic emissions from barrier are a match with spectrum produced by Admiral Lindy Harlaown.

Running full scans to determine purpose of barrier…

Oxygen levels outside of barrier are negligible, atmospheric pressure approaches zero, temperature approaches that of space.

Conclusion: Hull breach has occurred.

Resuming scans…

Ship's hull 23% disrupted. Hull breach confirmed.

Probable cause: unknown, equivalent incident not found within records.

Attempting to seal ship…

Bulkhead 1-B sealed.

Bulkhead 1-F sealed.

Bulkhead 1-G sealed.

Bulkhead 2-C sealed…

* * *

><p>"…going to be just fine, Chrono. Creating a shield like that is very draining, but it doesn't stress the linker core of as powerful and experienced a mage as your mother unless the shield is forcibly broken. See, she's already awake."<p>

Doing her best to ignore her throbbing brain, Lindy chuckled at the poorly hidden relief on her son's face. "Aw, I'm glad that you were worried."

Chrono's face flushed with embarrassment, and Lindy took advantage of his attempts to hurriedly explain (no, he hadn't been worried about her, he had just been concerned that she might be unable to fulfill her duties, and he had full faith in her and he wasn't just a little kid who needed a hug from his mother, honest…) and took a quick glance around the room.

Low lighting that didn't seem to emanate from any particular location, standard cabinets, bedside table with a clock shaped like a Klein Bottle, workstation in the corner with a couple of mementos and a picture of her, her departed husband Clyde, and a three-year-old Chrono; she was in her room aboard the _Arthra_. Reassured that she was in no immediate danger, she turned her attention back to her son. Before Chrono could see it coming, she interrupted his rant by reaching out and pulling him into a hug and a hair ruffle (which made him start to grumble again, but he waited a few moments first, not to enjoy the affection, of course, he was just being polite to a superior officer).

"How are you feeling, Admiral?" queried the young man in the uniform of an intern non-magical healer. Realizing to her chagrin that not only had she ignored him completely, she had no idea what his name was, Lindy resolved to take another look at her personnel files the next chance she got. Just because not everyone was equally important to the ship's day-to-day operations didn't excuse her inability to recognize them all in the slightest. After the current crisis was over she would make sure she could recite everyone's records by heart.

"Like I had way too much to drink last night," she admitted. "But as long as I don't have to try something as mentally straining as a cobbled together atmospheric barrier, I think I'm fit for duty."

The intern gave her a wry smile at that, and hesitated, obviously considering saying something.

Lindy gave him a moment to see if he would tell her without encouragement, and looked him over. Maybe a foot taller than Chrono, he looked to be in his late teens or early twenties. He had close-cropped dark red hair and a hint of stubble on his square-ish jaw, in a fashion suggesting that he had been on-duty for most of the day rather than an inclination to grow a beard. His thick eyebrows seemed somewhat strange in contrast with his small nose, blue-gray eyes, and pale complexion. His slim stature didn't exactly make his clothes hang off of him, but he definitely had some filling out to do if he wanted to make wearing his white overcoat with a purple lining to show his position (albeit smudged with what looked like blood and grease in a few places) look natural.

"Go ahead, young man. I won't bite," Lindy prompted after he continued to remain silent.

He sighed, and exchanged an uncomfortable glance with Chrono. Her curiosity piqued, and getting an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach, she raised an eyebrow.

Chrono spoke up for him. "We survived, and repairs have been underway for the past three hours since you lowered the barrier, but…" He wavered. "The… distortion doesn't seem to really have been a purposeful, aimed phenomenon, since we didn't lose anything vital, although we do have a lot of repair work to do…"

Lindy stopped him from babbling by putting her hand on his shoulder, and gave Chrono a sad smile. "I understand," she said softly, giving his shoulder a light squeeze. "Not everyone made it, did they."

"As best we can tell, your barrier saved everyone who survived the… blast, distortion, or whatever it was, but… part of the crew quarters, engineering, and some of the corridors on the left side of the ship are just… gone," said the intern quietly, numbly. "We won't know for sure until after this is over and we can be sure of our headcount, but… 16 crewmembers are unaccounted for."

As the man's voice cracked, Chrono's control broke down, and Lindy held him close, doing her best to comfort him, but knowing that this was something she could not protect him from. The other occupant of the room met her eyes briefly, before nodding in understanding and leaving.

Quietly slipping out of the room and heading towards the infirmary as quickly as he could, the man suppressed his own response to the deaths. He couldn't get emotional; he needed to be strong for the injured. Several of the medics were already out of commission due to injuries and overstretching their magic. The number of injured crew members was not more than they could handle, but he knew that he was likely to be run ragged by the time they got everything under control. But he had some good news now, and knowing that the Admiral was back on her feet would be a great morale boost for everyone.

And for mages in particular, but even for non-mages to an extent, the belief that things were getting better tended to help them heal. There was quite a bit of magic involved in even the mundane medicine he could use, if you knew where to look.

* * *

><p>Excerpts from the report given by Admiral Lindy Harlaown on the incident:<p>

…approaching the source of the disruption of time-space, we maintained a sizable distance between us and it as we scanned it as best we could. The data collected, and the analysis of the data, can be found attached to this report. However, in brief, it was an unusual, apparently stable distortion of time-space of a size larger than that of the _Arthra_ emitted by an unknown object assumed to be within the distortion. The disrupting effect of the distortion on magical and non-magical methods of gathering information made it impossible to learn more without approaching. After ordering our defenses to be raised to a heightened level, I attempted to open communications…

…at that point as there still was no reply, I transmitted our data to TSAB Headquarters, and gave the order to slowly approach with the intention of determining the source of the anomaly and whether or not it was a threat…

…without warning, there was a surge of power from something inside the distortion, and there was a flare of disruption that our defenses could not compensate for, resulting in the damage described in the attached document. The object vanished in some form of teleport or dimensional transfer, and it is believed that the backflow further damaged our systems including those that would have enabled us to seal off the damaged sections of the ship. The Arthra was at this time left helpless, as I was forced to respond with an atmospheric barrier that, while effective, severed numerous connections and separated our technicians from the controls to the systems needed to restore the ship. After two hours without power, the auto-response systems of the ship successfully activated and sealed off the areas of the ship exposed to dimensional space…

…while most of the ship's functionality was restored, our defensive capabilities were crippled by the extensive loss of our outer hull, and I ordered a course set for TSAB Headquarters…

* * *

><p>"Lindy? How are you doing?'<p>

"About as well as can be expected, Leti," Lindy remarked wryly. "I've never been the best at handling losses. It always gets to me, even if I can compartmentalize it enough to do my job."

"That isn't necessarily a bad thing," Leti noted quietly. "Come with me to get lunch. I imagine you could probably use some company today."

The two admirals walked side by side down brightly lit metallic corridors of the TSAB Headquarters in silence, save for exchanging occasional pleasantries with acquaintances as they made their way to the mess hall. Admiral Leti Lowran kept a careful eye on her old friend, knowing from long experience that Lindy's almost legendary light-heartedness and disregard for formalities was merely the most visible part of her personality. Leti readjusted her square-rimmed glasses and brushed aside an obstructive lock of lilac hair as her more personable compatriot waved cheerily and energetically yet elegantly (how Lindy managed that was a mystery, but she accomplished it) at yet another passerby. How Lindy knew so many more people than her was mystifying, as while Lindy got around more, Leti ran the personnel department.

Something about that seemed important, but Leti did not see how at the moment.

As they entered the wide, high-ceilinged room where they would be eating, Leti observed the subtle signs that Lindy was stressed while she let her friend get her food first. Lindy appeared to be doing well, but there was a slight tightening around the eyes, a hardness at the corners of her mouth, and the slightest bit of tension throughout her frame. The coming days would be hard on her, and Lindy was trying to prepare herself while still presenting a good face to those around her.

They ate silently and efficiently, knowing that small talk would be no distraction. Leti wasn't even sure what the food was, having not taken the time to look. Some sort of meat with assorted grains and some vegetables. In contrast, Lindy was paying meticulous attention to the food, distracting herself with the habitual motions of eating.

Once Leti's plate was clear, the uncomfortable silence between them deepened. Knowing that if her friend got the chance to control the conversation they would never get around to important matters before Lindy left, Leti took the plunge.

"It is my job to see to personnel assignments to make up for your losses," Leti said quietly, watching Lindy's features take on a stone-like quality out of the corner of her eye. "As the commanding officer of your ship, you will be consulted throughout the process."

Lindy simply gripped her teacup a little tighter.

"It is standard procedure that this process be begun as soon as possible…" Leti continued, but then hesitated, averting her gaze from her friend.

"…Unfortunately, there is a backlog of paperwork at the moment," Lindy's breathing hitched slightly, "and it seems that the notice for this is not labeled time sensitive. So it will probably be a few weeks before we need to speak of this again."

Leti gave Lindy a few more moments to compose herself before facing her again. The teal-haired woman did not speak, but the relief in her eyes communicated the message well enough. The issue would be left until later; it would not inflame the wounds while they were still this fresh.

"You're a far better leader than most, Lindy, even if that does tend to make you a bit soft," Leti said quietly, smiling reassuringly. "You have nothing to be ashamed of."

Lindy scrutinized her colleague, but there was no venom in her words as she spoke. "This isn't going to be the start of one of those 'no guilt no blame' lectures, is it? I'm doing fine. Chrono's doing better now, too."

"I'm not here to lecture you, Lindy." Leti rolled her eyes, not taking the offered change of topic. "I'm certain you've given enough of those talks to know the message."

"But you aren't here to enjoy a meal with an old friend either."

Leti didn't confirm the suspicion. But she didn't deny it.

"I appreciate the support, Leti, but this is something I have to do myself. I owe them that."

"You don't have to," Leti argued. "There are others who can handle it, or at the very least you could take someone with you to ease the burden. And it isn't good for you. By the time you finish, you'll be a wreck. You never learned how to control your emotions during the notifications."

"No," Lindy murmured. "I never did. And I probably never will."

They sat together silently while Lindy finished eating. Leti walked her friend to the dimensional transfer station, where she tried one last time.

"You don't have to do this…"

Lindy smiled sadly at her friend. "Yes, I do."

* * *

><p>"<em>Excuse me ma'am? I'm Admiral Lindy Harlaown of the Time-Space Administration Bureau, currently assigned to the Arthra. Could I speak with you privately? …I have some bad news about your daughter…"<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**Okay, here it is. This is the first chapter of what I've been working on for the past couple months. In case you didn't guess, the basic premise of the story is 'What if the **_**Arthra**_** didn't show up?' Of course, I then had a significantly more complex task of deciding why it wouldn't show up, and establishing believable grounding for it.**

**What I eventually stumbled upon was the thought that most people have a fairly predictable reaction to their mistakes coming back to haunt them: they try to make sure it never happens again, although their methods of accomplishing this vary. In canon, Precia Testarossa (the crazy woman talking about Alicia in the first half of the chapter, for those who don't know) is a good, loving mother and a brilliant scientist who, in the movie continuity at least, gets pressured to get results from her work and cuts the wrong corner. The end result is a great tragedy which results in her becoming a criminal, her daughter Alicia barely clinging onto life in a tube, and Precia going insane.**

**All that still happens in my universe, but Precia decides that her second plan could use some help to make sure it actually works. Her first plan involved cloning Alicia and transferring Alicia's memories into the new body, which doesn't work perfectly, although someone less obsessive would have no problems with the few minor differences between Fate and Alicia and would just be thankful to have a living, healthy daughter. Unfortunately, after two decades or so of trying to make this work, Precia goes from unstable to outright insane when Fate does not meet her expectations of complete success.**

**Her second plan involves getting a bunch of powerful artifacts called Jewel Seeds and using them to rip apart the fabric of reality in what is referred to as a 'dimensional dislocation' to reach a possibly mythical lost dimension known as Al-Hazard which might contain techno-magic capable of saving Alicia. Obviously, that plan needs all the help it can get. Ironically, my version of Precia realizes this… but decides that she really doesn't have a better idea, and as she gets increasingly unstable she convinces herself that it will work if she can just make sure nobody stops her. **

**For those who haven't watched the anime I won't spoil the ending until I get to the equivalent point in this story, Precia's defenses in canon consist of being on an asteroid called the Garden of Time in dimensional space (I'll try to define the mechanics of this later in-story to make up for the lack in canon), having that asteroid full of what seem to be mechanical golems of some sort, and her own ridiculous magical ability.**

**Unfortunately, the Garden of Time is located in the vicinity of Mid-Childa, Administered World #1. Somehow, she gets away with this. The army of magical robot things (which Precia may or may not have built) is made of a bunch of grunts that Nanoha and Fate can tear through like tissue paper, supplemented by a smaller number of more effect giant-sized golems. (Well, at least I hope so, as they only show one of those in the anime and I'd hope that she'd have built more than one.) Sadly, the entirety of the Garden of Time is powered by one single generator, containing a magical artifact that Precia may or may not constructed, and once Nanoha seals that, pretty much everything shuts down.**

**The one defense that really does do its job is Precia herself. While she isn't a trained combat mage, her mage rank is SS. She doesn't have a large number of combat spells, but she is able to take out the Arthra for a while by casting a ridiculously overpowered version of one of the spells Fate uses to far less effect. She is easily the strongest mage in the first season, in spite of the fact that she is dying of an unidentified, presumably fatal and incurable illness that causes her to cough up blood. All of her battles are pretty much curb-stomp battles in her favor.**

**I've removed several of the weaknesses listed above. All of these are hinted at or stated outright in the chapter itself if you look for them. There are multiple generators. The Garden of Time is moved away from Mid-Childa. And Precia put her ability to distort time-space (or as we would say, space-time) to good use. **

**What ability to distort time-space you ask? She obviously has that, as 1) she is able to cast a spell at the Arthra through the imaginary space around the Garden of Time (in spite of the fact that magic doesn't work in imaginary space), 2) it would be pretty pathetic if she only wanted to cause a dimensional dislocation rather than a dimensional dislocation that she could manipulate to bring herself to Al-Hazard, and 3) the power generator for the Garden of Time is suspiciously similar to the Jewel Seeds, and since in my story Precia built it…**

**For those of you who wonder just what the dimensional distortion around the Garden of Time is, it is a stabilization of the fabric of reality (or, more accurately, unreality) around the Garden of Time so that it 'pushes' everything away. Due to the nature of dimensional space (I'll explain in later chapters) manipulating this allows Precia to change the Garden of Time's location in a way that is half-teleport, half-flash step, so she both crosses the intervening space and she doesn't.**

**This also affects how the distortion produced by the movement manifests itself. A fundamental part of this is what takes down the Arthra. ****To use an analogy, it is like the blast that comes out the back end of an RPG, except in 4-D or 5-D. Basically, Precia ran away and cleaved off part of the starship at the same time, using magi-tech built to produce automatically what she can do magically except on a magnified scale, powering it with several generators to make it possible. And since just one generator powered the entire Garden of Time in canon, you should start to get an idea of just how much energy it takes to make this work.**

**As to how it would affect a full dimensional distortion, I have yet to decide. It won't stop the damage, but it will affect it, and I'm not touching that until I've got a weekend to burn thinking it through. Or five. The more physics-minded of you will be starting to get the impression that this has many similarities to quantum physics. You wouldn't be wrong.**

**I'll give more background information later, and will respond to questions in later author's notes. This story will likely take longer between updates than my previous multi-chapter story, especially if I make the length of this chapter my standard. No promises on that.**


	2. Chapter 2: For Want of a Starship

**For those of you who are interested, this chapter begins with what is shown at the end of the last part of episode 7 of the first season of Nanoha and at the beginning of episode 8. The point where things begin to noticeably change is the first blow of the fight. The actual divergence point was a slight change in the nature Precia's insanity, but for the main cast this is where the difference becomes noticeable.**

**For reference, I have decided that this chapter begins time-wise where the last one ended. So it has been about a week since the Arthra was damaged. Also, it is the summer of MidChildan Year 065.**

* * *

><p>Chapter Two: For Want of a Starship<p>

"Jewel Seed Serial VII! Seal!"

All four of them flinched back as pink and yellow magic struck the artifact, which unleashed a spherical wave of white light. Recovering quickly, the two girls flew up above the Jewel Seed, neither attempting to seal it again.

The darkly clad blonde child spoke first. "It looks like we can't put any more stress on the Jewel Seed."

The auburn-haired nine-year-old in a barrier jacket version of her school uniform nodded slightly in agreement. "Yeah. If it turns out like the one last night… I'd feel sorry for my Raising Heart and your Bardiche."

Fate Testarossa sucked in air sharply at that. Why did the other girl care? After all, it would be to the brunette's advantage if Bardiche was destroyed. Obviously it was as she had thought: her opponent was an innocent who had no business on the battlefield. Fate just had to demonstrate that to her.

"However, I won't yield this match to you," Fate responded. Pointing her black and yellow device at the girl, Fate transformed Bardiche with a thought. "Device Form." Bardiche's mechanical voice assured her that the device was ready for battle as the wings of light faded and the axe-head of her weapon locked into place.

"I just want to talk with you," the other girl protested, but reluctantly transformed her device as well, the flaps projecting the wings of Sealing Mode closing and the head of her staff sliding down to cover the segment containing the flaps. "Device Mode," the feminine voice murmured. The girl's eyes stared into Fate's, seeking something within her. "If I win… and you understand that I'm not just some innocent girl mixed up in all of this… will you let me listen to your story?"

Fate forced herself not to react. Part of her wanted to flinch away from the girl's earnest eyes, but she refused to give any indication that the girl's analysis was correct. She needed to scare the girl away, make her realize that this battlefield was a place for people like Fate, not a place for kind and innocent children. And yet… it was almost as if she was compelled to respond in some way. Fate felt her head bob slightly, but she honestly did not know what that meant.

But it wasn't as if it mattered. She wasn't going to lose.

The two of them hovered briefly, half crouched, as comfortable in the air as on the ground. To accomplish her goal of driving the girl away, she needed to dominate this battle. Fate considered her opponent's weapon for a moment. Were they using mass weapons, Fate would have had a decisive advantage in equipment alone, but Bardiche's axe head lacked a killing edge. While the head of her opponent's staff looked ornamental, it was strong enough to be used as a club, although Bardiche could more easily build up momentum. Yet while her opponent had some talent with bombardment and shooting magic, Fate's melee skills were far superior. The difference in skill would be more than enough.

Fate moved first, and was pleasantly surprised when her foe immediately followed suit. If the girl wanted to charge in at her, that was her mistake to make. She was further assured that this would be over quickly when the girl attempted an overhand strike in response to her own. Staff and axe crashed together briefly in midair before the two pulled away.

The other girl's arms shook slightly from the strain, and Fate used the split second her opponent used to catch her breath to rise above the girl. Fate then used her superior speed to close the distance between them, forcing the girl to block in an awkward overhead position as Bardiche cleaved down towards her before she had a chance to dodge. As the staff caught Bardiche's handle below the axe head, the girl grunted from the force of the impact. Locking eyes with Fate, she would have been caught unawares if not for a cry from the ferret down below. Although Fate did not catch the words, the other girl clearly did, and she jerked her eyes back to Bardiche.

"Scythe form."

Fate watched her opponent's eyes widen in shock as the yellow energy blade grew over her staff, but did not hesitate in spite of the fear she saw. Propelling herself in a flip over her enemy's still-raised staff with her flight spell, she sliced down behind her opponent's guard with enough force to slice open the girl's back. Or rather her barrier jacket- she didn't want to kill the girl, she just wanted to give her a very clear message.

However, the resistance she had anticipated her blade meeting never arrived. Unprepared, she overcompensated and went through a somersault before regaining control of her flight. Looking around wildly, she saw a flash of pink out of the corner of her eye.

Spinning, she created a shield just in time to catch a small pink blast on the magical circle. In spite of the short time she had had, the shield was well made and it held up to the Divine Shooter, giving her a chance to search for her opponent while the shield dissipated the attack.

However, she still couldn't see her enemy.

"Sir."

Bardiche's warning did not go unheeded, and once more Fate spun around. She only had a moment to reflect on how she should have remembered that her opponent's Divine Shooter spell fired multiple shots, before the second shot slammed into her device's hastily prepared protection, sending her careening backwards across the sky, barrier jacket miraculously unharmed thanks to Bardiche's Defenser.

That was when the third and fourth blasts came rocketing towards her.

* * *

><p>Nanoha Takamachi was still a novice mage, albeit a powerful one. She was working on it, to be sure, but she had only a rather small skill set to draw on. Shields, flight, Divine Shooter, Divine Buster, Wide Area Search, and a binding spell that she could only make work one out of three times. Not bad, especially considering she had only been doing this for a month or so, but not enough to let her best Fate.<p>

At least, not in Fate's preferred style of combat.

Fate had a wider range of skills, far more experience, superior speed, and far greater close range combat abilities. Sure, Nanoha's Divine Shooter was a guided spell while Fate's Photon Lancer was aimed, but guiding even one spell to hit the incredibly fast blonde was not an easy feat. And in battle she could not risk putting all of her focus into blasting away; she needed to defend herself as well. To make matters worse, Nanoha didn't have any spells that Fate couldn't dodge or block given half a chance, although she had an idea or two in the works. She felt sure that she would be able to best Fate later, but for now she had few advantages.

So when Bardiche's energy scythe slashed down at her, and Fate's view of her was ever so slightly obscured by the scythe's glow and Fate's own body for a split second, Nanoha exploited one of Fate's weaknesses for all it was worth.

With a thought and a murmur, she deactivated Flier Fin.

* * *

><p>When a raw recruit shows up at their first flight training session in the TSAB, they do not immediately learn a flight spell. This holds true for every other opportunity for learning how to fly that exists on any of the Administered Worlds, and most of the Non-Administered Worlds for that matter. Screwing up in the air is a good way to die quickly.<p>

For an hour or more, depending on the instructor, the recruits have certain facts drilled into their heads, which will later be re-drilled into their heads with practical experience supplemented by, depending on the instructor, various amounts of pain and suffering.

One of the first things that they learn is that moving in the air is very different from traveling on the ground. For one thing, your velocity is completely dependent on your flight spell and the medium through which you travel. If you want to break the sound barrier, you can. Quite easily, in fact, although for most people it takes a while to build up the momentum to do so.

And if your barrier jacket isn't up to snuff, your liquidated corpse will then leave an appropriate splatter mark on the landscape. Other ways to die include flying quickly between trees, running face-first into something (including water!) and breaking your neck, and doing pretty much anything involving flight spells and blindfolds.

It could be suggested that these all have something in common.

Another concept drilled into a would-be flier is that you aren't standing on the ground. While this should be obvious, it is surprisingly easy to forget. People are used to having 360 degrees of motion, plus jumping and crouching and so on. In the air, you can go left, right, forwards, and backwards. But you can also go up, down, left and down, right and up, backwards in a loop-de-loop…

As one instructor put it, when you are on the ground, rolling on the ground is a desperate attempt at dodging. In the air, you do barrel rolls all the time. There is a lot more to it than that, of course, but that is the general idea.

Eventually, recruits are taught a flight spell for their magic system if they do not know one, and are allowed to attempt flight under controlled conditions. To have the notation 'Air' on one's record indicates that a recruit is capable of casting and maintaining a flight spell without the aid of a device. You don't have to be able to fly quickly, and you don't have to be able to do anything while flying, but the basic requirement is that you can stay in the air for at least five minutes without using a device. The reason for this is that if a mage is capable of doing that, then they will be able to survive having their device broken while flying in a planet's upper atmosphere.

With a device, the expectation is that you can be useful in the air in some way. That is where mage ranking and the like comes in. But the difference between a 'Ground' mage and an 'Air' mage is the ability to make sure that a flight spell is always, ALWAYS, active while they are in the air.

After all, what goes up, must come down.

Of course, sometimes flight spells are disrupted by any number of things. But nobody trained by anybody who had ever been associated with the TSAB in even the loosest of ways would even CONSIDER turning off their own flight spell on purpose while in midair. Such a maneuver would be insane.

But while Nanoha had been taught to fly by Yuuno, she had taught herself how to fight in the air using Raising Heart's training simulations. She had never heard of such a thing as the TSAB or cared about 'proper safety while flying'. She knew perfectly well that she was very good at flying, and she had spent hours thinking of ways to push the envelope. Nanoha was born to fly, and she felt as comfortable in the air as on the ground, perhaps even more. A normal person would panic at the thought of accelerating at a rate of about 9.81 meters per second towards the ground, but to Nanoha, it was just another option. As she always had, as she always would, she chose between safety and success…

…and dropped below Fate's field of vision in an uncontrolled fall.

* * *

><p>As Nanoha fell towards the treetops below, she concentrated, forming the glowing pink orbs of Divine Shooter. Launching one on a spiraling curve to intersect Fate's flight path, she accelerated it as much as she could. Just before her first attack slammed into Fate's luminescent magical circle, she fired off another, this one aimed at the blonde mage's back. This one moved even faster than the first, and Nanoha watched it connect with Bardiche's Defenser.<p>

"Flier Fin."

Her device's words, spoken aloud more to tell her that she could fly again than to reactivate the ability, reminded her that she needed to bleed off speed before she reached the treetops. Taking the few seconds of respite that her last attack had won her to alight safely on a tree branch, she wasted no more time in letting her final two attacks loose.

Her peripheral vision seemed to blur and darken as she focused so hard that she experienced tunnel vision. The two pink attacks blurred forward and Nanoha set them on converging parabolic arcs. They were weaker than her previous attacks- a trade of power for speed- but if she could keep Fate off balance and confused then she might be able to pull this off.

"Raising Heart."

"Yes, my master. Shooting Mode."

* * *

><p>Although she would never admit it, dodging the two magical spheres was more due to luck and panic-fueled speed than to skill.<p>

So unprepared for the attack was she that the logical response- dissipating the small pink projectiles with her scythe- never crossed her mind. Fate simply reacted, doing the aerial equivalent of lunging away from incoming danger. The orbs shot through her previous position, missing her by mere feet.

And because she just had to have an intelligent opponent, the attacks took less than a second to adjust course and arc towards her again. A second hurried dodge kept her safe, but she wasn't going to wait for them to try again. Accelerating upwards, she found herself enough space to turn around and try to respond proactively to her opponent's attacks.

Seeing a pink glow from beneath the treetops, Fate decided to deal with her enemy rather than her attacks, and sped between the incoming pink orbs towards the other mage. Moving faster than her opponent could hope to react, she was at tree level in a heartbeat. Bringing her scythe across her body in preparation for her attack, Fate closed the distance as the other girl turned to face her-

"Divine Buster!"

The world turned pink.

* * *

><p>"I guess this is my win, huh."<p>

Fate didn't respond, choosing instead to sit bonelessly against a tree trunk with her eyes closed. She did her best to ignore the girl who had moved her there after catching her, just as she tried to ignore the tattered remains of her barrier jacket.

The Japanese mage sighed heavily, unsure of what to do.

For a few moments there was an uncomfortable silence. Then Fate spoke.

"Mother."

"Huh?"

Fate opened her eyes, but didn't look at Nanoha. Somehow, Nanoha thought that the other girl suddenly looked fragile and small.

"You wanted to know why. You have no real right to know, but if I must explain myself to dissuade you, then I will. Mother wants them, so I am collecting them."

Nanoha frowned. "But what does your mother want them for? They're really dangerous! That's why Yuuno-kun and I are collecting them, to protect everyone. Why would anyone want them?"

But Fate was silent again.

"Fate!"

"Nanoha!"

Hearing her familiar call her name caused Fate to try to stand up, only to have her knees buckle. A pair of hands steadied her, and Fate turned her head to find the other girl- what did the ferret call her? Nahoma? Nanoa?- at her side with a concerned look on her face.

"Are you alright, Fate-chan? I didn't mean to hurt you so badly."

"You should worry about yourself." Fate croaked out, pulling away.

"What?"

"I've been going easy on you because I don't want to kill you by accident. But it seems that I can't do that anymore." Fate looked Nanoha in the eyes, her face expressionless. "If I need to I will take you out. Mother wants the Jewel Seeds, and I will bring them to her so that she can smile again." She hadn't meant to add that last part, but she couldn't stop. If she showed doubt or hesitation, the girl would feel that she needed to continue to interfere. She had to make this girl understand.

"Fate!" Arf, in wolf form, landed before them. "Fate, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Arf."

Yuuno scampered over to Nanoha, but kept his eyes on Fate and Arf. The ferret and the wolf had both kept out of the previous fight by mutual, wordless, agreement, but he wasn't sure what the familiar would do now.

Fate turned away and walked to Arf's side.

"Okay, I've had enough of this," Arf growled. "Come on, Fate, let's take them down togeth-"

"We're leaving."

"What?" Arf was taken aback, her eyes widening at Fate's decision.

"And you," Fate looked at Nanoha briefly, "hope that we don't meet again. I won't lose next time."

Within moments, both were out of sight.

"Nanoha…" Yuuno trailed off.

"You saw it too, right?" the girl asked quietly, eyes shadowed. "Her back. It was covered in scars."

Yuuno didn't have anything he could say to that.

"She's a good person, I'm sure of that. I think I'd like to know her better. To be her friend. And if I ever meet the person who hurt her…" Nanoha's eyes hardened.

There was a dreadful certainty to the silence. Yuuno could not help but shudder, and he wondered, in the deepest recesses of his mind, just how far his friend would go to ensure that Fate never got another one of those scars. (Would he be able to stop her? Would he want to?)

"Let's hurry up and seal the Jewel Seed. Before anything else happens."

Some questions were best left unanswered.

* * *

><p>"Why did we let them get the Jewel Seed?"<p>

Fate didn't answer, choosing instead to stare out of the window of their building.

"We could have beaten them!"

"We can't afford to fight them."

"Huh?"

Fate smiled at her faithful familiar. "I know you want to protect me, but if she continues to improve at this rate, then if I want to be in a position to capture the Jewel Seeds I can't afford to fight her. We were luck to successfully seal the previous one after that fight; if they had pursued us they could have easily worsened our situation. Now that I think back, it seems clear that she has access to healing magic, probably from that ferret. When we first encountered her she was a novice with practically no experience in fighting. For her to recover so quickly from yesterday's incident, she must have some magical means of increasing her recovery rate. We don't have that advantage, so fighting constantly puts us in a worse position than it puts them."

"I'm sorry, Fate. If I was-"

Fate cut her familiar off by gently cupping Arf's cheek in her hand and smiling lightly at her. "It's not your fault, Arf. You do the best you can without healing magic. Don't worry, we'll just have to be smart about this."

"So, what will we do?"

"Avoid them, for now. Seal the Jewel Seeds we can, but back off if they are too close. We'll cease hostilities until the Jewel Seeds are all sealed."

"And then?" Arf hung on her master's words.

"Then we'll settle this with one battle. And we won't lose."

"Yes sir." "Yeah!"

* * *

><p>"…her mother, huh." Yuuno mused as he examined Raising Heart to ensure that the battle had not negatively affected it. "I feel ashamed that I didn't wonder about her family before now. I mean, she uses MidChildan style magic, and MidChilda doesn't have the age limits that Japan does with regards to working and fighting and everything since our culture is so strongly based around magic and there are never enough mages, let alone enough adult mages…" He shook his head. He was rambling, and he knew it, but he just needed to let his thoughts flow for a while. "But even so, nobody sends a nine-year-old out to hunt dangerous artifacts without support. Well, not if there is a better option at least, and I rushed to get here as fast as I could after the Jewel Seeds were lost in transport…"<p>

Yuuno considered that for a moment before shaking it off. He'd sent a message to a nearby site that he knew a couple of his aunts and uncles were running, and he knew that the TSAB had to have been notified that he was on-site. If they weren't here, then it was probably because they had thought he could handle it and didn't have any manpower to spare. He had taken the equipment needed (Raising Heart) and he was a strong mage, so they had probably just given it a low priority. He had thought the matter would be swiftly resolved, and he was the expert! Things had just gotten complicated unexpectedly. He couldn't think of another explanation, after all, the TSAB had been the ones transporting the Jewel Seeds, so they definitely knew about them.

Setting Raising Heart aside, he returned to the issue of Fate. "Something's obviously wrong. Most wounds treated with healing spells generally don't leave scars unless there's a LOT of damage. And I think I might have seen stitches. She's either cut off from help, or…"

A pained look from Nanoha saved him from having to elaborate.

"Honestly, that alone would be enough to make me worried, but knowing that her mother wants the Jewel Seeds makes me wonder if her mother is sane. She obviously wants to use the Jewel Seeds for something, and last night definitely showed that that's a dangerous prospect at best. You would have to be unbalanced or desperate to mess around with them. Fate doesn't seem like a bad person, though. Dangerous, yes, but…"

Nanoha smiled softly, but a little sadly. "Yeah, I feel the same way."

Yuuno hesitated, but spoke a hopeful thought. "We might be misreading all of this, you know. There are plenty of other explanations. We could be presuming the worst."

"I hope so, but if there is a better explanation, then why did we think of the same thing?"

Nanoha went about taking off her hair ties and changing into her night clothes as Yuuno climbed into his basket. Rather than climb under the covers, however, the auburn-haired girl curled up and stared pensively out the window. Yuuno was about to go to sleep when she spoke again.

"I'm really worried about her. She just seems so fragile, so… lonely." Nanoha's voice cracked, and she buried her face in her arms, her troubled feelings overflowing.

Yuuno raised his head up over the rim of his basket, but remained silent. For the life of him, he couldn't think of anything to say. Not one to leave a friend to suffer alone, he climbed out of his small bed and clambered over to Nanoha's. Climbing up onto her shoulder, he nuzzled her neck briefly before settling down.

Reassured somewhat by her friend's support, Nanoha slowly unfurled herself as she got her frustration and hopelessness under control.

When they finally fell asleep, girl and ferret lay together, basking in each other's warmth, determined to share it as best with they could, both with each other and with those who were still out in the cold.

* * *

><p>Scritch. Scratch.<p>

The quiet murmur of writing implements gliding across paper could be heard as an accompaniment to the cram school teacher's voice as he guided the students filling the lecture hall through a math problem. Nanoha looked every inch the attentive learner as her pencil swiftly and precisely noted down the facts and figures the man at the front of the room drew on the blackboard, showing how to solve the problem she had already calculated the answer for. Her eyes locked on every move the teacher made.

Despite her best efforts, however, the work was far too easy to distract her from the absence of Suzuka and Arisa. Having spent the better part of the past several weeks learning to simultaneously perform fast-paced aerial combat and run complex mathematical computations, Nanoha found that she could not simply disregard her senses now that they had been fine-tuned. That made it impossible for her to forget that she had been alone all day. Arisa had made it very clear that until she got her act together and stopped moping about all the things she couldn't tell them, Arisa was not going to have anything to do with her.

Nanoha sighed inwardly. Arisa wasn't going to let her be. Suzuka was trying to be peacemaker, but being closest to their fair-haired friend (literally and figuratively) that meant she spent less and less time with Nanoha. Yuuno felt responsible, but couldn't do anything to help. Arf didn't trust her to help Fate, or even to not stab Fate in the back. And Fate was in trouble, but didn't want help.

Yet. She couldn't leave it like that. Fate didn't want help yet. But she'd need Nanoha's help, and she'd get it whether she asked for it or not.

A big part of being a mage, Yuuno had told her, was listening to your instincts. The mage was the fudge factor between the Linker Core (the ethereal, magic producing organ) and the results, with devices and spells streamlining, controlling, and simplifying the process of getting the results you wanted. As such, in spite of all the equations and technology, not listening to your instincts was the fastest way to get yourself killed doing magic. Nanoha found that this applied to other situations as well, and her instincts told her that something bad was going to happen if Fate's mother got hold of the Jewel Seeds. Intellectually, she knew that Fate's mother might not be a bad person, but Nanoha had spent a lot of time in the hospital back… back then. And she recognized the signs.

She didn't know what it was called- doctors make an effort to hide such things from little girls, although the young patients did not think to- but she knew on a basic level that something was 'wrong with the family' in the worst way, and that was enough reason for her to try to ensure that both Fate and the Jewel Seeds were separated from the ones who hurt Fate. It might not be the mother, of course, although it seemed likely, but someone was responsible. And the thought of a bad person getting their hands on such dangerous… Jewel thingies…

'Yuuno?'

'Nanoha? Is everything alright?'

Nanoha glanced around, averting her eyes from Arisa (who very pointedly ignored her) and the apologetic, worried-looking Suzuka. Flipping the page of her notebook before she ran out of room and started writing on the wooden surface she was leaning against, she once again began to copy the teacher's notations automatically.

'Everything's fine!' She cheerfully lied. 'But I was wondering about the Jewel Seeds.'

'What about them?'

'Well, I know that they are dangerous, blue, old, and shiny, but well, what ARE they?'

There was a brief silence, followed by several seconds of moaning self-recriminations, which Nanoha suspected he had not intended to broadcast.

'Okay, I'll try to explain it to you, but it needs a bit of background to understand. The first thing that you need to know is that the society that I come from is based around magic used carefully for the betterment of all, at least in theory. We also have turned away from killing and from using mass-based weapons such a swords, missiles, and bullets. The reason for these decisions is directly related to the civilizations that produced artifacts such as the Jewel Seeds.

'My society, which is based around my home world of MidChilda and a number of like-minded 'Administered Worlds', has a lot of rules about what you can and can't do with magic. Some societies were… less careful than us in what they created. The example that is most important to what I'm talking about is a civilization known as Belka, although some pronounce it 'Velka'. It doesn't translate perfectly to our phonetic system. Belka destroyed itself in a bloody civil war which ended when they destroyed both themselves and their home world in a dimensional dislocation. This happened less than a century ago. 

'It was that incident that spurred the creation of the Time-Space Administration Bureau, which all of the Administered Worlds that I mentioned earlier contribute to. Fearing that something similar could happen elsewhere if artifacts capable of causing such devastation were unleashed, all magical artifacts from extinct civilizations are termed 'Lost Logia' and are essentially locked away, only accessible to scientists and archeologists who can study them under appropriate safety precautions. 

'If they are found to be harmless, then they can be put on display in museums and generally treated like non-magical artifacts. But some Lost Logia, such as the Jewel Seeds, are incredibly dangerous. In most cases they are either destroyed or sealed away in one manner or another after we learn as much as we can from them.'

'So why would somebody want them? I mean, I know that we want to seal them, but what possible use could they have?' Nanoha asked.

'I don't know,' admitted Yuuno. 'I felt it was too risky to do more than a cursory analysis while I was in the field, so I know only slightly more about them than you do. Maybe they could be used as a power source? If you're willing to lend a hand, I could try and run some scans later.'

'If it'll help, I'm willing to give it a try. But about what you were saying earlier, what is a dimens-'

The jarring sensation of a Jewel Seed activating cut into their conversation. Nanoha almost jumped up and ran out of the room, but fortunately remembered where she was in time.

'I can't get away for 15 more minutes, Yuuno! What do we do?'

'I'll set up a barrier, keep it contained. I'm mostly recovered now, so it shouldn't be a problem. Using my normal sort of magic is much less stressful for me than trying to use Raising Heart.'

Nanoha agonized for a few seconds, but agreed that it was the best option. 'Stay safe, and if it's really bad, contact me. I'd rather have to make up excuses than let somebody get killed.'

'Don't worry, once I set up the barrier there shouldn't be any risk of that. I'll be fine; none of the monsters have been able to break through my shields, and this one didn't feel too powerful.'

* * *

><p>Unlike Nanoha, Yuuno could and did start running the moment he felt the distortion of reality that the Jewel Seed caused. However, upon hearing of Nanoha's predicament, he made a quick detour away from the main street into a small alley to transform.<p>

Moments later, a 9 year old boy wearing a cape ran out of the side-street that the light-furred ferret had ran into, and headed for the location of the disturbance he had detected. Fortunately, regular school was out, so while seeing a boy with sandy blonde hair running around town in some kind of adventurer's costume was not exactly normal for Uminari, Japan, it wasn't something anyone took issue with. Less than a minute later it became a moot point, as Yuuno's barrier went up, and on Yuuno's slightly separate plane of reality everything fell silent.

Strangely, Yuuno could not immediately spot the activated Jewel Seed. Flying up above the rooftops didn't help. The Jewel Seed was nowhere to be seen, nor was any empowered monstrosity to be found. But there was no mistaking the sensation. A Jewel Seed had to be here somewhere.

Mindful of danger being near, Yuuno constructed a powerful shield around himself with an ease that reassured him of his recovery. That done, he swiftly calculated and cast again, a second magical circle forming around him in a flare of green, accompanied by a dozen or so floating orbs of the same color.

"Wide Area Examination."

Closing his eyes to decrease the mental strain from seeing through so many 'eyes', Yuuno moved his attention around the area with a speed and skill born of long years spent practicing in libraries and on dig sites. His advanced version of the Wide Area Search spell brought a storm of images that flashed into view and vanished as he dismissed them. Empty buildings, empty streets, empty sewers. Where WAS that stupid Lost Logia?

Thump!

The sound of something impacting on his defenses brought Yuuno's attention back to his own body, and the mage looked up to see a decidedly unhappy, unnaturally large bird shaking off the effects of ramming into his iridescent defensive sphere. Righting itself, it screeched at him, making him wince at the terrible noise. Only the awareness that this was a deadly enemy kept him from losing his concentration and dropping his defenses- the blasted sound was like a feedback screech.

The bird dived at him, talons outstretched, in an attempt to slice open his Sphere Protection. Deciding that it was better to be safe than sorry (he REALLY didn't want a repeat of his last one-on-one fight with one of these monsters) he placed a Round Shield directly between him and the creature. A sickening thud and a crack accompanied the bird's neck-breaking introduction to the mystical equivalent of a glass window. The monstrosity had seen the shield and decided to try to break through with its beak rather than its talons, and had found itself not up to the challenge.

Snap!

Yuuno winced. Apparently a broken neck isn't fatal if a Jewel Seed is possessing you. Well, he could understand it, since the actual body of the bird probably had only a general relationship to the construct. Yet while he had expected something of the sort (the birds wings had not stopped beating) actually seeing the head rotate back into position was anything but pleasant.

He really shouldn't have tempted fate by insulting it like that. He didn't even have any attack capabilities, what had he been planning on doing when he found it?

The bird's talons and beak glinted ominously.

Yuuno gulped.

* * *

><p>The trouble with barriers, Nanoha realized, was that they were as good at keeping people on the outside out as they were at keeping people on the inside in. All well and good if you wanted that, but right now it meant that Yuuno was trapped with a monster, and she couldn't help.<p>

While Yuuno had briefly gone over the principles of barriers, neither of them had considered this situation. Since shattering the barrier would be really visible, her only recourse was to try and crack the code, so to speak. If she could figure out the exact details of the temporal shift that Yuuno's Temporal Force Field applied to its contents, there was supposed to be a way to teleport inside. Unfortunately, all she knew was a passing comment that Yuuno's barrier moved the contents 'a few seconds' from normal time, or something like that. And her movement magic left a lot to be desired, so there was no way she could risk creating a spell to move her inside the barrier even if she knew anything about how the barrier actually worked.

After a frustrating couple of minutes, she was forced to admit that her situation was just as bad as she'd feared. Raising Heart helped, but Nanoha quickly realized that she wasn't going to be breaking in any time soon. She even tried walking through it, but rather than finding herself with Yuuno, she found herself on the rooftop on the other side of the shimmering heat-wave of the barrier, but still in normal space-time (or time-space as Yuuno called it).

She was trapped on the outside, and Yuuno was trapped on the inside with a monster. And there was nothing she could do about it.

* * *

><p>As it turned out, ten minutes was a really long time in combat. Yuuno found this realization to be oddly reassuring. For one thing, it meant that Nanoha would be here any time now, and she wasn't actually late even though he felt like he'd been fighting the monster bird for hours. For another, it meant that he was fully recovered, as he had managed to remain completely unscathed.<p>

Of course, there was no reason to waste time hiding behind a shield. Yuuno wasn't about to be useless dead weight. Even if he couldn't seal the Jewel Seed, he could definitely immobilize it.

Yuuno dived down an alleyway, the persistent monster on his heels. Yuuno spun around and slammed a magic circle between himself and his enemy. The bird didn't have a chance to slow down or dodge, and hit it head on.

But this time, it slammed right through it, trailing green light as its wings were locked in place and it was sent crashing into the ground.

* * *

><p>Trying a different tactic in frustration, Nanoha launched a small blast of pink energy at the barrier, hoping that her 'knock' would let Yuuno know that she was trying to get in.<p>

To her immense relief, the barrier's edge burst outwards only moments later, rolling over her, engulfing her, giving off a warm, prickly sensation that she knew was the manifestation of her magic interacting with the difference in space-time. Yuuno had told her that the barrier sorted things which produced bioelectromagnetic fields into two groups, and she was soon given a practical demonstration. Her magic put her at a higher energy state than a normal being, and with a sensation of movement she slid into the quasi-real realm of Yuuno's barrier.

As her linker core stabilized her existence inside the barrier, Nanoha suddenly was no longer in a city full of evening traffic, but an empty, eerie alternate world. As she took to the air to try to spot Yuuno and/or the monster, she absently wondered at how the streets looked so different without people. Even when she had wandered the empty streets at night there had not been this feeling of wrongness.

Unconsciously, she shivered. Having a sudden NEED to find the battle, she looked around, turning her head back and forth to look around her as her heart thudded in her chest. But no matter where she turned, she could not find anyone and the whole city was empty and there was nobody here and she was all alone and a ball of ice formed in her guts as-

'Nanoha?'

Sudden relief replaced her panic. 'Yuuno! Are you alright? Where are you?'

'Don't worry, I'm doing fine. I've got the monster trapped in binds, I tricked it into hitting a contact triggered Struggle Bind and wrapped a bunch of Chain Binds around it when it crashed. Are you okay? You were projecting a lot of negativity, but telepathy doesn't do a good job of conveying emotions, since they can be pretty subtle and nobody feels them quite the same way-'

'Yuuno! I'm perfectly fine! You're the one next to the monster, not me! Leave the lesson for later! Where are you?'

Swiftly homing in on her friend's location, Nanoha was relieved to see that the Jewel Seed-warped creature was indeed trapped quite thoroughly. Yuuno had apparently caught it in an alleyway and used the walls to help anchor a series of chain binds. The avian couldn't do more than squirm helplessly and produce muffled shrieks (Yuuno had taken a moment to shut it up with a bind around the beak). A green glow from the other side of the alleyway told her where Yuuno was.

"Sealing Mode."

With a flare of pink light, Nanoha put some extra 'oomph' into her sealing to simultaneously disperse the construct and capture the Jewel Seed. Raising Heart stored it away, announcing the gem's serial number as it did so, but Nanoha didn't really pay attention- if necessary she'd check later, but it really wasn't important. She took a moment to make sure that the raven that was today's victim was alright before rushing to the end of the alley, where she almost ran over the boy at the other end.

"Sorry!" She apologized. "Um, have you seen a ferret around here somewhere? I've, uh, lost mine. Yes, he's, uh, lost, and… scared, so if you've…"

Her voice trailed off at the sight of the boy's incredulous face. A nagging feeling told her that the boy was strangely familiar…

"Are you feeling alright, Nanoha?" He asked carefully. "Remember me? Yuuno? The mage who gave you Raising Heart? I'm the ferret."

The wide-eyed look that formed on Nanoha's face as he spoke suggested to him that he MIGHT have forgotten something. Once Nanoha stopped freaking out, she was willing to fill in the blanks, thankfully without using Raising Heart to demonstrate her displeasure.

In the end, they agreed that Yuuno should remain in ferret form for the time being to avoid awkward questions, but they should share more about themselves in an effort to reduce misunderstandings. Not that they said it that way, as Nanoha felt righteously indignant and Yuuno felt both foolish to have not made his identity clear and exasperated at Nanoha's reaction, but when asked about it later that was how they would tell the story.

But on the way home Nanoha took the time to make it very clear that the next time they went to the hot springs, Yuuno was to go to the male changing rooms. She wasn't sure of all the details of why that was important (although Yuuno, to his embarrassment, was) but she definitely knew he wasn't supposed to be on the girls' side of the hot springs.

By the time they got home, all was forgiven… although to Yuuno's chagrin Nanoha never forgot.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**First of all, if anyone wants to know more about why the fight between Nanoha and Fate went the way it did, please PM me or leave a review, and I'll get right back to you. I took a lot of things into account when I did this and my reasons are a good deal more in-depth than 'I wanted Nanoha to win, so there, HAHAHA!' The same goes for the fight between Yuuno and the monster bird, as well as anything else in this chapter. I promise to take everything you say into consideration, although I don't promise to change anything unless someone gives me a really convincing argument.**

**Yuuno's info dump in the middle of the chapter was inteded to make clear what Nanoha knows about the TSAB and MidChilda. As in, that is pretty much all she currently knows. I say this, because it is a notable difference between her first introduction in the anime and her first, vague introduction here.**

**The fight with the bird takes place the day after the fight between Fate and Nanoha.**

**In a lot of ways, the status quo at the end of this chapter is similar to that of the end of episode 8 of the anime, which is the main reason that I chose to end the chapter here. However, there are a number of differences. For one, as can be seen, Nanoha still has school and is living in her house rather than on a starship. Also, as noted in the title of this chapter, the Arthra never showed up.**

**The effect on how Arf, Fate, Yuuno, and Nanoha view each other is more dramatic. The reason Fate told them about her mother, to show that she is serious and might kill them if necessary, was essentially missed completely in favor of the connection that Nanoha and Yuuno made between Fate's mother and Fate's scars, and they reacted accordingly. Arf and Fate now have a measure of respect for their opponents.**

**A reader might ask: Why are Nanoha and Yuuno so sure that their idea of what's wrong with Fate is correct? The answer is that they are nine years old. Furthermore, they are very smart, mature nine year olds, as is Fate for that matter. Trying to convince an intelligent, perceptive child that they are wrong about something can be difficult. When the child is right, then it is doubly hard to do so. Sadly, Nanoha and Yuuno suspect the truth of the matter, although nobody except Precia knows just how bad Fate's situation really is.**

**For those who do not know what I am talking about, I will speak bluntly: when Fate fails to live up to Precia's expectations, Precia turns her device into an energy whip and proceeds to flay Fate's back open. She does this ON SCREEN, which is one of the main reasons that she is one of the most hated villains in anime. I honestly wanted to punch Precia's face in when she started telling Fate it was for her own good.**

**The worst part? At this point, Fate honestly believes that Precia loves her. And that often happens in equivalent real life situations as well.**

**Much less action next chapter, but things began snowballing slowly (and in some cases, not so slowly). For those of you who are wondering, I will not just forget about the cast members that are in the TSAB. They've had their own crisis, and I will be giving glimpses of how they cope in future chapters.**

**Finally, Happy New Year!**


	3. Chapter 3: Moving Forward

**Not much in the way of action this time. We're picking back up three days later, because I want to give things a little bit of time to get moving, and if I chronicled every day in its entirety I would still be working on season one this time next year. I've set all of the scenes in approximately chronological order; there may be some overlap, but their beginnings are in the correct order. I've tried out some different ways of writing scenes here. If anything catches your eye (good or bad) please let me know so that I can figure out what I'm doing well and what I'm failing at.**

**Also, this chapter is over 8000 words long. If there is something that is obviously a mistake, please, please, PLEASE tell me about it. My self-editing is unlikely to catch everything. Now, on with the show.**

* * *

><p>Chapter Three: Moving Forward With Determination<p>

"I think your parents suspect something's wrong."

Nanoha twitched.

"And I know for a fact that your friends have figured out something is wrong."

Nanoha remained stiffly in her position, eyes closed as she ran a Wide Area Search. Yuuno exhaled heavily.

"And… well, I'm worried too. You need to relax more."

Nanoha twitched again.

Backtracking, the boy (currently in boy form) tried to make amends. "Not that you're really tense or obsessive or anything. It's just… you've been kind of moody lately, and I was wondering if you wanted to talk about what's on your mind?"

Again, Nanoha did not answer. Yuuno wilted. "I don't mean to assume that you'd confide in me or anything, I mean, it's okay if you don't, I've already caused you a lot of problems and I keep messing things up…"

Still getting no response from his friend, Yuuno walked over to the edge of the roof and stood next to her, and stole a sideways glance at the focused girl who did not seem to acknowledge him.

"…I've just heard it helps." He finished lamely.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Awww!" Nanoha whined, pouting cutely. "There aren't any Jewel Seeds here either? Where are they? And I saw Fate again, but she's still avoiding me! She takes off every time she sees my search spell!"

Spinning around, Raising Heart's master frowned slightly at the sight of her friend in shock from the mood whiplash. "Are you alright? You've been a little down lately, is something wrong?"

"N-no, nothing's wrong…"

"Oh, good!" Nanoha beamed. "Oh, and sorry for ignoring you while I searched," she said sheepishly. "I'm having trouble paying attention to my surroundings while I use that spell. Did you say anything?"

"…Nothing important. Uh, you're looking very happy, considering that, um, never mind. Did something good happen?" Yuuno probed cautiously.

"Raising Heart and I are finished with the first design for our new attack! It was tricky, since I couldn't figure out how to control the loose magic at first, but Raising Heart suggested using a variation on the adaptive equations that help her channel poorly matched magic through her systems, so that even people like you who are poorly matched can use her a little…"

Yuuno wilted a little at the reminder. It wasn't his fault! Well, maybe he should have tried to see if he could actually use it properly rather than just assuming that the device would work well with him, but who put an intelligent device in a box labeled 'sealing equipment' anyway? Seriously, he was lucky that it even had a sealing mode given that little mislabeling.

"…It actually turned out to not work that well, but it gave me somewhere to start, and it's kind of tricky but it works. And then once we did that I had the idea of making collecting it easier by squishing it into little balls and controlling them like lots of really tiny Divine Shooters, and that worked, but it was really hard, and it gave me a headache, but we realized that I didn't need to guide them like that, so we took out the guiding and put in aiming and that way I just need to set a destination, and that was way easier…"

Seriously though, he was a good mage. It wasn't his fault that his magic was… specialized. He was really good at barriers, and binds, and shields, and fields, and healing, and analytical spells, and he was better than average at flying and moving stuff around (like telekinesis, but magic, as Nanoha said, whatever that meant) and he had an unusual ability with movement magic and dimensional transfer spells. If Raising Heart was a sealing device rather than an intelligent device favoring beam attacks that just happened to have a sealing mode, he could have actually used it. Wait, hold that thought. What?

"…but I can't compress it all the way to a single point, so we had to change it to a big sphere, which is pretty good, and we think we can make it smaller if I practice compression, and-"

"Wait, uh, can you run that by me again?" interrupted Yuuno, wide-eyed. "Because I thought you said you could manipulate magic that you don't produce yourself, magic that is outside your body?"

"Yeah!" Nanoha nodded, beaming. "Isn't it great!"

"Great? Nanoha, there are shooting mages who can go their whole lives without managing to do that!"

"Eh?" scrunching her face up, Nanoha looked at her friend in confusion. "But it isn't that hard once you figure out how to make it go through your linker core…"

"Don't worry about it, I'm not exactly an expert," Yuuno said quickly, following the principle that if you didn't think about it too much it would hurt less. "But really, that's quite impressive. Could you tell me more about the spell?"

As Nanoha happily expounded upon advanced mathematical concepts and their application to massive destruction, Yuuno found himself wondering just what Nanoha was planning on using this for, and as he smiled and congratulated her and wondered if maybe, just maybe, he had created a monster…

But if he had to go back to that night when he first called out for help, and do it all over again, he didn't think he could have picked a better ally… or a better friend.

* * *

><p>Momoko Takamachi pulled the door to Nanoha's room closed with a soft click. Quietly, she padded into the kitchen, where her husband waited for her with a cup of tea for each of them.<p>

"She's asleep, for now at least." She murmured to her husband, accepting the cup from him. She leaned against the counter, content to simply soak up the warmth of the brew through her hands for the time being.

"She seemed more upbeat today." Shirou offered. "Perhaps she resolved her problems?"

"I hope so," Momoko whispered. "But what if she hasn't? She's more upbeat… but she isn't happy. And she's trying to keep us out of it, like she always does."

Shirou set his tea down on the counter and moved closer to his wife, hoping to provide some measure of comfort. Momoko unconsciously leaned into him, but continued to fret.

"We failed her, back then," Momoko said after a long pause. "Back when you got hurt. I've always been proud of her, of how smart she is, of how mature she is, of how she is always stepping up to take responsibility, but back then… she was so little, she couldn't help us, she would only have gotten in the way. But she knew that. She was four. Four-year-olds aren't supposed to understand that their family has to leave them alone so that they can earn enough money to get through the hard times until daddy gets better. Four-year-olds aren't supposed to stay out of the way and learn to be self-sufficient. But she did, because you couldn't take care of her from the ICU and everyone else was so busy at the café… we left her alone. And now that she has her own problems she feels like she has to handle it herself."

Shirou pulled her close, letting her let it all out as she choked up.

"She's nine, and she thinks she has to take on the world alone. She should be able to rely on us, but she's so capable that she doesn't need to most of the time, and at times like this, when she needs someone, she doesn't turn to anyone. She's hurting, and I don't know how to make it better.

"I don't even know what is happening to my own daughter. What kind of mother am I?"

Shirou reached up and brushed away her tears with hands still rough and calloused even after so many years of peace. "A good one. You're not perfect, true, and you've made mistakes. And you know what?" he said, taking her cup from her and setting it aside. "It doesn't matter. Why? Because you care. You care that your daughter is hurting; you care that you can't make it all better. You're a good mother because you want the best for your children, and you try your hardest to give it to them."

"But I can't make it better," Momoko choked out. "I've failed her! And now she sneaks around, dodges my attempts to find out what is going on, and comes home exhausted, depressed, and limping."

Shirou cracked a smile. "Just like Kyouya when he was trying to impress Shinobu, hmm?"

"It isn't the same!"

"No," he said, serious again. "No, it isn't. But that doesn't make you a bad mother. And I think that deep down, you know I'm right. We can't protect Nanoha from everything. All we can do is be there for her, and make sure that she knows we're here when she needs us."

"I know. I know that all we can do is wait for her to come to us. Anything would push her away. She's too much like you were, back when I first met you. Too stubborn for her own good. I'm scared, Shirou. Scared that she doesn't understand that we're here to help her. Scared that she'll get hurt before she comes to us."

"And if she was coming home bleeding rather than scraped up, I'd have forced it out of her for her own good, and dealt with the fallout later." Shirou admitted. "But she isn't, and we need to mend our bridges, not make ourselves the enemy by putting her on the defensive. She has to want our help. All we can do is be ready to do all we can to help her if, when, that time comes."

"But why does it have to hurt so much?"

"Nothing related to the pain of our children is ever easy," Shirou murmured. "It's just part of being a parent. Sharing joys and sorrows alike." Kissing his wife on the forehead, Shirou smiled gently. "We'll get through this. Besides, she really did seem less down tonight. Perhaps her troubles will be over soon. And if not-"

"If not, we'll face it together, right?" Momoko said, sniffling slightly, but cheered.

"Well I was going to suggest finding the problem and putting my sword skills to good use, but that works too." The ex-bodyguard joked.

"Ha, ha. Very funny, dear."

"Yes, you're right. Kyouya needs the practice."

"Just for that, you're doing the dishes tomorrow. Now come on, I want you to wash my back."

"Oh?"

"And nothing else. Honestly, it's things like that that make Kyouya embarrassed to bring Shinobu over!"

"Understood, ma'am. But I must insist you wash mine in return!"

"Fair enough! Don't forget to close the door."

Forgotten in the kitchen were two cups of tea, slowly cooling.

And in the darkness of Nanoha's room, a ferret laid awake, greater-than-human hearing leaving him with plenty to think about.

* * *

><p>Brrriiingg. Brrriinnnngg. Brrrr-<p>

Turning off the alarm on her phone, Nanoha rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and stumbled her way through her morning routine with a bizarre combination of natural grace and tired stumbling. Get up, get dressed, tie her hair into its usual position, check her appearance in the mirror, make sure she has Raising Heart, grab her phone from under the bed where she had accidentally knocked it, open the door-

"Nanoha, do you think we should tell your family?"

Close the door.

* * *

><p>"<em>When I first asked for your help, I thought that this would be over in a week or two. I never expected that finding the Jewel Seeds would take this long, or that we would encounter opposition."<em>

"Alright, that's it! I've had enough of your stupid moping and your stupid distractedness and-"

"Please, calm down, Arisa! It isn't-"

"No!" snapped the blonde, "I've had enough! You were finally cheering up, after weeks of moping, and now you're all pensive again! What is going on with you?"

"_Given my expectations, it seemed that there was no reason not to comply with the standard policy of my society, and so I asked that you keep magic and our mission a secret from everyone on this world, including your family and friends."_

"Arisa-"

"Not this time, Suzuka! She needs to get it into that thick head of hers that we're her friends! I'm not going to stand for this! Now, look at me Nanoha!" Arisa snapped, yanking on the girl's hair to enforce her demand. Suzuka cringed and fidgeted beside them.

"_Things have gotten complicated now. And dangerous, much more so than before. There is a very good chance that you will get hurt, and I can't guarantee that I will be able to help you. And, as much as I hate to say it, there is a possibility that you might die. Under the circumstances, it might be wise to tell your family, and possibly your friends, what you are doing."_

"S-sorry Arisa," Nanoha stammered out, "I just-"

"Don't you start apologizing! You're here to listen!" Arisa snarled. "You are our friend, got it? That means we care about you!"

"_There is always the risk that they'll stop you from helping me, or at least try, but they seem reasonable enough. And given the circumstances, they might even be right to stop you."_

"_I've told you before: I'm seeing this through to the end."_

"We care about your problems! We're happy when you're happy! We're upset when you're upset! That's what it means to be friends!" Each statement was punctuated by a jab of Arisa's finger and a flinch from Nanoha.

"_For you, for Fate, for everyone that could be and has been hurt by the Jewel Seeds, I will continue to help. I can't take the risk that they'll try to stop me. Things could go really badly if I'm not there."_

"_Nanoha, I don't want you to have to choose between myself and your family. Your parents would understand, I'm sure of it. I just think that, if the worst happens, they shouldn't be left wondering what happened to you. I'm worried that you'll regret it if you don't tell them."_

"Why can't you understand that, you-"

"STOP!" Arisa and Nanoha turned to Suzuka in surprise. The dark-haired girl panted heavily for a moment before continuing. "Please, just stop. She- She understands. Right? You understand?"

"Y-yeah." Nanoha stammered out.

"_I can't tell them. Things are already too complicated. If I tell them, things will never be the same again. If they knew what I was doing, then even if they let me go, they'd worry for me every time I was out of their sight. Keeping it a secret will save them from that."_

"_They're already worried. And they have every right to be."_

"So please, can we just go back to how we were before?" Suzuka begged. "All the yelling, it- I- I'm scared one of you will say something you can't take back and- and-"

"Suzuka…" Nanoha murmured, looking with widened eyes at her friend. Arisa flushed and averted her eyes. Suzuka almost never spoke up like that. You could count those instances when she did on one hand with fingers to spare. Nanoha didn't know what the state of Suzuka's family was, as she had never met any of them except her big sister Shinobu, but… seeing Suzuka almost in tears she suddenly could guess.

"_They're your family. They love you. They already know something is wrong, Nanoha. They aren't stupid. They just don't know the details. Your family, your friends, they would support you if you gave them the chance."_

"_They can't help us with this. They don't have magic."_

Words Had Been Spoken, like Arisa had with her. And Things Had Changed. And it was an Unhappy Ending. Details weren't important. What mattered was her friend was hurting and it was her fault. She couldn't erase it, or go back to the past, but she would do her best to make things better in the future.

"_Just because they can't fight doesn't mean they can't help. You'll run yourself into the ground again if you keep pushing so hard and trying to keep up appearances. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you don't have to do this alone."_

"_I'm not alone. You're here with me, aren't you?"_

"_Of course. Like you, I'm here until the end. But you deserve more. Just… promise me you'll think about it, okay?"_

Almost simultaneously, Arisa and Nanoha reached out and pulled their friend in close. And, as they whispered apologies and dried tears, their eyes met. As Nanoha talked about how she was worried about Yuuno, and thought he might not be sleeping well, the Unspoken Problem festered. This had been Going On For Too Long. It needed to be fixed, and soon.

"_I'll tell them later. When this is all over, I'll be able to tell them everything, and it won't be a problem. You and I, we'll tell them everything together, okay? Maybe we'll get Arf and Fate to help us tell the story. Wouldn't that be nice?"_

"_Alright. Your planet, your rules, I guess. With any luck, in a few years time we'll be able to look back on this conversation and laugh at how silly I was being."_

The bell rang, and break ended.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure this is the best way to handle this, Lindy? It isn't exactly standard." Leti cautioned her friend.<p>

Lindy looked over her ship, the repairs moving swiftly. In a week or so they would be ready to continue their duties. "Nothing about this is 'standard'. The TSAB has suffered larger tragedies before, but none quite as… jarring as this one. Besides, I think it will work out in the end."

"Well, your request has gone through. And the Saint Church has offered their headquarters as the location."

"I suppose the easy part is done then," Lindy mused. "I'll let them know in person. It won't be the most pleasant of tasks, but I've delivered worse messages. Thanks for helping me out."

"I don't need thanks for this sort of thing. I wouldn't deserve to call myself your comrade if I had failed, much less your friend." Leti smiled at her old friend. "You really are something, Lindy. I'm not sure your way is the best way, but if it's you that does it then I can believe that it'll turn out alright."

"I suppose I'll just have to live up to your expectations then, won't I?" Lindy answered. "I'll start tomorrow. No need to make a long day even longer."

* * *

><p>"<em>Fate, I need to talk to Arf alone for a little while. Can you go get cleaned up for dinner while we talk?" Linith smiled kindly at the small blond, who happily did as instructed.<em>

Arf watched over her master worriedly as she picked at her food. Yes, her master, not her charge, not her abused little sister, her master. Her master, who didn't need to be saved from That Woman, didn't have a better relationship with that girl with the pink magic than with her own- She cut her thoughts off right there. She wasn't convincing anyone, and brooding would get her nowhere.

"Fate, you need to eat! You shouldn't starve yourself, especially not before you plan to capture a Jewel Seed! You need to keep your strength up!"

"_What do you want to talk about, Linith?" The wolf pup called out energetically, grinning widely, ready to play games or babble about Fate or learn super-secret techniques passed down from familiar to familiar through the centuries-_

_But then she stopped. Because Linith wasn't smiling._

_And, soon, neither was she._

"You worry too much, Arf." Fate smiled faintly, expressing her love for her familiar in the slight curve of her lips. "I'll be fine. After all, you'll be beside me, won't you? And with you supporting me there is nothing I can't do."

Flushing with embarrassment, Arf bit back bitter words. If only that were true, maybe Fate could smile happily as she had in the time before-

"_I will die soon, Arf." Linith explained to the young wolf._

"_What? Why?" Arf cried out. "Are you sick? Are you hurt? What's wrong? We should talk to Fate's mother; she's your master, right? She'll be able to help you!"_

_But Linith just shook her head, a strange look on her face. "Nothing's wrong, Arf. I've just fulfilled my purpose. I have little left to teach you, and once I have taught you and Fate all I know, I will simply be an unwanted drain on my master's magic. I have been informed that at that point it will be time for me to go."_

_Arf's snarl made it very clear what she felt about that._

_Linith forestalled Arf's tirade, however. "I'm not here to talk about her. She has her reasons, and while I may not always agree with them she has a right to make her own decisions, for good or ill, as do we all. But we need to talk about Fate."_

Shaking away memories, Arf took a different path of attack. If Fate wouldn't look after herself for her own sake, experience suggested that she refocus her efforts.

"Oh, sure," Arf sniffed," you'll be fine. Me, I'll just be stressed out over how malnourished you are and how much of a failure I am. To think, I can't even defend you from your lack of appetite."

The sight of her familiar exaggeratedly bemoaning her troubles managed to get a ghost of a laugh from the girl. Arf made sure to be properly embarrassed when Fate scratched her behind the ears and agreed to eat a little, and she gave no sign of the relief she felt.

"You shouldn't worry though," Fate asserted. "We're going to capture a Jewel Seed tomorrow, and we'll keep capturing them until they are all sealed, and then we're going to defeat that mage, and then we'll take the Jewel Seeds to Mother. And then Mother will be able to relax, and things will get better. There's nothing to worry about."

"_I want you to protect Fate for me, Arf." Linith said seriously. "I know that you are very young right now, but you will grow up much faster than Fate, so I want you to look after her in my place as best you can."_

"_Of course!" Arf cried out. "I'd do that anyway!"_

"_Arf, I don't think you really understand what I'm asking you. I know you will do your best, but there will be times when you simply can't stop her from getting hurt. Pain… physical and otherwise… there is simply no way to protect Fate from it completely. Everyone inevitably gets hurt at some point in their lives."_

_Arf grimaced, but did not speak. She felt that what Linith was saying was important in the primal undercurrents of her being, and the near-death experience that led to her becoming Fate's familiar was not het far enough in the past to be forgotten._

"_This is more than just making sure she has clean clothes and healthy food. You will have to dress her wounds, reassure her when she's frightened, stand by her when her hopes are crushed, and support her when no one else will." Linith explained quietly. "It can't be just a duty or a task. This is something that will take everything you put into it and more, and even then you won't always succeed. Truthfully, I hope that Fate's mother will step forward and love her like she should, will help Fate achieve her dreams and grow up happily, but I can't be certain of that…" Linith gazed off towards Precia's laboratory before turning back to Arf and meeting her eyes._

"_Beyond that, I want you to promise me something, Arf. I want you to promise me that if it ever becomes necessary, if a situation ever gets so bad that you know from the center of your being that you have to do something about it even if Fate orders you to do nothing… I want you to promise me that if you ever find yourself in such a situation that you will do whatever it takes to protect her. No matter what… or who… tries to stop you."_

_If Arf had been a human, she would probably have been too young to understand what Linith meant. Or if she had understood, she would have been horrified._

_But, of course, no matter how human a familiar might seem, no matter how much more advanced, how much more civilized a familiar might be than their normal, wild counterparts… they are also animals. And Arf was a wolf._

"_I promise."_

"I hope you're right, Fate." Arf said eventually. Then she grinned toothily. "But somehow I think that no matter what happens it'll turn out alright for us in the end."

She would make sure of it.

* * *

><p>"So how strong do you think it will be?" Yuuno asked, yawning.<p>

"I'm not sure. It depends on how much compression I can get and how much magic I can collect," explained Nanoha. "I've been able to do it on a small scale, but I need to try it out for real to start setting the safety moderators so I don't kill someone by accident. If you set up a barrier and set up some shields I'll fire off a few Divine Busters, and then we can start experimenting."

"You'll be careful, right? I mean, mana compression can go badly. As in, explosively badly."

"What's the worst that can happen?"

"Okay, new rule: never, ever say that again. And let's try it without the compression first, so that we have a baseline."

Yuuno's barrier came up, tinting the sunrise and bringing silence to the clearing.

* * *

><p>"Again."<p>

S2U complied with his command, the storage device interfacing with the screen in front of him and returning to the beginning of the visual data sequence stored in its memory. The card-shaped device glowed a dim blue as the miniscule quantity of magic needed to process the command and accomplish its goal flowed through its circuitry. As the video began again, S2U's glow subsided, fading to a faint iridescence.

"Stop. Rewind one frame per second… Stop… Enlarge upper-right quadrant…"

Chrono stood before the screen, arms behind him, left hand clasping his right wrist at the small of his back. It was tempting to squint or approach the image, but he had discovered during the course of this… project… that, rather than helping, such actions would only result in eyestrain and headaches.

Eventually he was forced to admit that there was nothing of use to him, and he stored the image in a separate file. Perhaps one of the technicians would be able to get something from it, but what he was looking for- a glimpse at what was hidden away behind the distortions- failed to materialize. Not that he was going to give up; he still had the rest of the recording and then a fair number of others made by various sensors and technicians.

To be honest, it was not a promising activity. Each recording showed exactly the same thing as the one before it, albeit from a slightly different angle and, if he was really lucky, a different filter or analysis to break up the monotony. At this point the odds of him actually finding something useful by just looking at the images were not worth mentioning.

But he was not going to just sit around uselessly while waiting for the Arthra to be fixed! Grinding his teeth, he moved on.

"Still slaving away, Chrono?" A soft, slightly teasing voice called out to him from the doorway. Pausing the recording once again, Chrono turned to the doorway, suppressing a small smile at the familiar sight of his… a quick glance showed she was wearing her blue navy uniform… comrade. The brunette showed her usual lack of respect for appropriate emotional control and pouted at her failure to surprise him.

"I've learned my lesson, Amy," the 14-year-old enforcer responded primly. "When you are around I take care not to leave my back to a doorway."

Amy stared hard at him, which was a bid unsettling he had to admit. He'd expected some sort of response, something suitably Amy-ish. Chrono shifted uncomfortable at the attention from the distressingly taller teenager.

Without warning, Amy perked up and started violating protocol (and his personal space; when did she get so close?) treating him like some sort of stuffed animal, (like one of those 'teddy bears' that Admiral Graham's familiars liked so much) proclaiming how cute he was when he tried to act all serious and proper. Just when he was about ready to put her in a struggle bind, she backed off, although she didn't stop smirking.

Trying to ignore his flushed face, Chrono regained his composure. "I assume you're here for a reason other than to torment me?" he groused, avoiding Amy's eyes.

Amy nodded, hiding a grin behind her hand. "Your mom asked me to tell you to go see her."

"Admiral." Chrono corrected automatically.

"She's your mother, too." Amy said, rolling her eyes. "Her being in uniform doesn't suddenly make you adopted." She paused. "Although that would explain a lot…"

"Amy!"

"Oh, relax, Chrono, I'm just messing with you. Now get going!" Amy commanded, airily waving him out of the room. Shooting her one last half-hearted glare, Chrono complied.

Once he was out of sight, Amy turned to look at the image.

A blur of color stood frozen on the screen, the true form of the object hidden behind folds and loops and whorls of distorted time-space.

"Run, hide, flee," Amy growled. "It'll do you no good. We'll find you, whoever you are, whatever you are. And when we do…"

A finger jabbed a touch screen viciously. The image disappeared.

"…You'll spend the rest of your existence wishing you'd never hurt us."

* * *

><p>"Uh, oops?"<p>

"Oops? Oops? You almost broke through my barrier! I thought that we were keeping a low profile! A giant pink beam mysteriously appearing in the middle of the park would not be low profile! I thought you weren't going to compress it!"

"I didn't compress it! And I didn't expect it to be so hard to aim!"

"…You can try one more time, then we're practicing binds for a couple of hours so that my blood pressure can return to normal levels. No compression until I work out a stronger barrier. And this time please hit something other than the barrier, okay? The ground, one of my shields, something less likely to reveal us to the world at large if it gets broken."

"Yay! Alright, one more time Raising Heart."

"Yes, my master. Super Ultra Awesome Divine Buster."

"You know, I'm not sure that name works. Maybe we can name it after the charging sequence? It's pretty distinctive. Hm, how about we call it 'Spark Strike'. No, wait, that sounds like what Fate would call one of her attacks. Yuuno, name something small that glows!"

"A will o' wisp?"

"No, that doesn't work. Wait, those are real?"

"Of course. Dragons are, too. I don't think I've ever seen a unicorn though. You know, it's weird; your legends seem to suggest that magic used to be a lot more prevalent on Earth. I wonder what happened."

"I asked Dad about that once. He said that people realized that you can't patent spells, so all the businessmen started using technology instead. I think he was joking though."

"Ready."

"Alright, here goes!"

"Wait, I'm not-"

* * *

><p>"I'm so sorry! I thought you would have a shield ready."<p>

"…" Yuuno glowered at his friend as he used Physical Heal on himself.

"If it makes you feel better, I've figured out part of the name. 'Breaker' seems to fit."

"Excellent choice, my master."

"Okay, seriously, what did I ever do to deserve this?"

* * *

><p>The chaotic, mutating dimensional sea calmed as the Garden of Time settled into place 'above' Earth. Fortunately for the occupants, the existence of the large three-dimensional asteroid's mass momentarily attempted to enforce a set of three-dimensional physical laws on the imaginary space around it, and the instant before the dimensional sea overrode them a set of barriers slammed into existence, solidifying them in the correct form for human life to survive and allowing the three-dimensional object to be unaffected by its surroundings.<p>

The field would be nearly impossible to set up in normal space, but in high space-time defining which way is 'down' and what the force of gravity on the contents of the barrier was not only possible, it was absolutely necessary. And then there were all of the other little things that couldn't be taken for granted in this realm. Fluid mechanics. Light reflecting and refracting properly. Inertia. Electrostatics. Thermodynamics.

Precia Testarossa chuckled mirthlessly as she dropped her own barriers from around herself and Alicia. She was not too proud to admit that she would have had difficulty inventing the spells used to allow access to and travel across the dimensional sea. In spite of her dabbling in dimensional magic and her attempt so long ago to test her 'Hydra' hypothesis, she had never been much of an expert on the dimensional sea itself. Three dimensional spells could not function properly in imaginary space, so Precia, like most mages, based her spells around a number of four-dimensional spells that had been created by long dead researchers who had been genius enough or insane enough to grasp the true nature of the dimensional sea. Only a rare few had both the understanding and the desire to innovate in that area these days.

It was a pity really. Over the years she had become less a scientist and more of an engineer. There had been a time when she would have run experiment after experiment using the equipment she had now, intent on unlocking the secrets of reality. But her first priority was her daughter now, as it should be.

In keeping with that, she attended to her eternally sleeping child. As she clinically ran through her checklist, Precia silently thanked whoever had originally constructed the Garden of Time for their thoroughness, as the failsafe that had been created to reconstitute the life-sustaining systems had saved her the thousands of hours it would take to 'hardwire' the associated spells into the structure of the asteroid. The TSAB's method of including such spells into their ship's components during the construction process was undoubtedly the superior method, but Precia was simply thankful that she had what she did. The Garden of Time had not been built to move; that it did was a testament to hard work, caution, and judicious risk-taking.

'Sometimes,' Precia mused, 'it is simpler to reboot.' Coughing harshly, as she did more and more often after casting magic, she wryly considered how many of her problems could be solved if people worked like that.

Finishing her inspection of her daughter's temporary resting place, Precia was satisfied as to Alicia's stability. Precia was loath to leave her daughter's side, but she forced herself to do so for a time. She walked briskly from one room to the next, inspecting equipment and defenses as she wound her way through the high-vaulted stone catacombs of her home. It took quite a bit of walking to assure herself that nothing important had been damaged, as Precia had loosely based her internal defenses on the highly successful design of the human immune system.

There were multiple 'lymph nodes', each protecting an important area, and each containing slumbering automatons and turrets whose activations were slaved to her device. While likely incapable of taking out a team of high class mages on their own, the turrets and automatons made up for their predictability and poor defenses with coordination, concentration of firepower, and limiting of the enemy forces' mobility so that their numbers were effective. Sometimes all it took to kill a mage was a second of distraction; even an intellectual like herself knew that. And there were a number of more advanced units, although due to their sheer size (a necessity, as each was outfitted with several of her earlier generators and each of those was as large as a normal automaton) their numbers were limited.

The defenses were far from perfect, Precia was well aware of that. She didn't have a good way of remedying the situation though, and considering that Jail tended to get sticky fingers around relics and unusual technology she wasn't about to allow him and his 'daughters' into her home unless there was no other choice. Still, while the effectiveness of the defenses would hopefully never be tested, normal enforcers would easily be stymied, and even S class mages would at least be slowed down. After that, it was up to her. And as an SS class mage she had pretty good odds, even if she wasn't a combat specialist.

Her destination in each of the nodes was the manual access control panel for that node's defenses. With magic, there is always the possibility of things going wrong, and Precia had seen the results of enough accidents involving Lost Logia to be leery of having the defense systems completely automated. Being indistinguishable from any of the hundreds of normal computer terminals throughout her home until the correct code was provided, the control panels were the only way to directly manipulate and monitor the defenses in their respective nodes. Furthermore, they would allow Precia to shut down the defenses in each of the nodes if necessary.

She had felt it was an acceptable gap in security at the time, and still believed that to be true. Of course, Precia had kept it a secret from Fate, just like so many other things, just in case. It would take an elite hacker protected by an elite team of mages to exploit the weakness, and that was only if they could find the correct terminals. Not perfect, but acceptable. She would have at least enough time to swoop in and obtain the collected Jewel Seeds, grab Alicia, and leave before an attacking force could break through her defenses.

It took an hour or so to finish, but the outlook was positive. There was some minor damage to the defenses near the third generator, but Precia could fix it easily enough. Good enough for now.

Precia's attention then shifted to the more external regions of her home. For the time being it was preferable to allow the generators to recharge rather than strain them by immediately reactivating the energy-eating monstrosity that had facilitated her relocation, for a number of reasons. At this late stage, she felt it better to not hide behind distorted time-space. The Garden of Time was currently what the TSAB would consider 'suspicious' rather than 'threatening', at least in the eyes of anyone who might stumble across it, which gave her an advantage in any confrontation. So recalibration of the focusing crystals while she had the opportunity was the task at hand.

Truthfully, recalibration would have been next on the list unless she was desperate, Precia admitted to herself. Her outermost line of defense was a delicate system. A single poorly calibrated crystal could result in great damage to the Garden, three or four crystals being set up wrong could tear her home in half in the worst case scenario.

There were only two ways to recalibrate the crystals, and only one of them was workable under normal circumstances. The crystals produced a hypersphere-shaped distortion, which was sometimes interpreted as a sphere by the senses and by non-specialized equipment. Two crystals were assigned to each axis, positioned equidistant from the center of the Garden of Time. They could be manipulated manually or from a central console, the latter being the method used by Precia. The manual method was, given that two of the crystals lay on the w-axis, difficult and dangerous, although not precisely impossible.

She would have to check in on Fate soon. The thought was an unwelcome one, but quite true, and she wasn't going to let her dislike ruin Alicia's cure. Soon enough the Garden of Time would once again be fully operational, and then she would have to see for herself just what the state of events was. And while it rankled that she would have to communicate with that thing, for Alicia's salvation to be lost because Fate's coordinates for the Garden of Time were incorrect…

Yes, for Alicia's sake, she would use the clone to the fullest. Waste not, want not. And if it failed, she would step in.

And if that happened? Well, she would be rid of that fake that much sooner wouldn't she?

* * *

><p>"Sorry I took so long to get here. I got accosted by the Liese twins on the way over. You wanted to see me?"<p>

"Yes, I wanted to talk to you privately… and unofficially. This doesn't relate to your duties. Come on in, and close the door behind you."

Chrono complied, a little pensively.

"Before I begin, I want to tell you that I am having the talk with everyone assigned to the Arthra. It concerns those who are no longer with us."

Chrono's mouth went dry at his mother's words.

"As you may be aware, the TSAB does not hold funerals. Given the large number of planets and the even larger number of cultures that our men and women belong to, it was decided early on that the TSAB would instead fund whatever proceedings the families would hold, and their commanding officer would attend if appropriate. However, we have been granted permission by our fallen comrades' families to pay our respects before the final, private, funerals. Attendance is not mandatory; there is no obligation here. This is a chance to say goodbye, not a mandate.

"If you do decide to attend, come to the Grand Cathedral on Mid-Childa at 1700 hours on the 17th. Regardless of whether or not you come, all of us have been given leave on that day. Spend it as you see best."

Lindy gave her son a moment or so to take that in before dismissing him. "I know that I am not giving you much of a chance to talk to me," she said, forestalling his speech with a raised hand, "but I want you to give this some thought before you say anything. If you still want to talk with me about this later, or with anyone else for that matter, I encourage you to do so. But the choice must be your own."

The young enforcer nodded, and opened the door. However, he was hesitant to leave without saying anything. Understanding, Lindy gave her son a reassuring smile.

"Go on. I still have others to talk to about this. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Sure."

Chrono took the opportunity to leave and set off for his quarters. He was going to need to make sure his dress uniform was in good shape. It was nice of his mother to be so accommodating, but there were some things that you just had to do.

He might not be able to find their killer, but he could stand beside his comrades one last time. He could do no less.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**As you've probably noticed there is both humor and drama in here. One reason for this is that while life isn't exactly sunshine and rainbows, there are occasionally fluffy bunnies to go with your combat and angst. Also, the majority of the characters are children, so they aren't serious all the time.**

**It has come to my attention that Yuuno has been suffering unduly. Unfortunately for him, he is currently the straight man (the normal, serious one of a pair of comedians). He is not being discriminated against; I just feel that it wouldn't have worked as well if their roles were reversed. I actually played with that in the first part of this chapter. **

**About the parents: due to the lack of information about them in the anime, I have done a mix-and-match between the Triangle Heart versions of the Takamachi family and the anime versions. I then assumed that they were pretty much on the opposite end of the parental spectrum from Precia, and started writing. In general, they are pretty good as parents go. That doesn't mean they are perfect. They are fully aware that they have to work on their relationship with Nanoha, but they don't have a magical therapy speech to fix everything. That doesn't mean they aren't trying. You may also notice that they like to talk out their problems. This is 1) because I try to keep the mind reading confined to magical characters and 2) because communication is the key to good relationships.**

**In the anime, Suzuka has no parents to be found, although it is suggested that they are engineers. In Triangle Heart, the Tsukimura family is made up of some kind of vampires. I kid you not. For obvious reasons, that didn't work for my purposes. The actual state of Suzuka's family is something that I am leaving up in the air for now. Suffice to say that it is sufficiently complicated and upsetting to produce Suzuka's reaction. In that section, I emphasized some words and phrases. This is because they have a heavier significance in their use here, and Nanoha knows that even though she doesn't necessarily fully understand just what that significance is.**

**Arf. This is me jumping headlong into something that is never really addressed. Just how human are familiars? Just how animalistic? They are sentient beings that deserve to be treated like humans, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are human through and through. For those of you who didn't really get what was going on between Arf and Linith, go back and read it again.**

**Now, I have no idea how Nanoha actually created the Starlight Breaker, nor do I know how she decided on its name. I decided to throw in a bit of humor, throw in some background information, and show why it's a bad idea to show up at a fight with an untested spell. It doesn't always go right the first time. Or the second time for that matter. Don't worry, Yuuno got better.**

**Precia's section. Oh, boy. Well, on the one hand we have a large info dump which may or may not contain anything important. On the other hand, you should start to get more of an idea of just how my Precia's mind works. Precia is an actual character here, with her own motivations, actions, and neuroses, all of which I will attempt to bring to life just as I would for any other major character. And, much as I find the thought uncomfortable, Precia isn't precisely evil so much as insane and of dubious morality. She's a very sick woman who needs help, not the incarnation of darkness. **

**Is there a difference between Precia here and in the first chapter? Yes. Meet the technical side of Precia, the side the does the science. It isn't a split personality or anything; there's just a difference between how she acts and thinks when she's working like this and when she's dealing with Fate. Fate, being a living, breathing representation of her failure, is unsurprisingly bad for Precia's mental stability, not that that justifies anything that Precia does to her. Perhaps if someone could convince the obsessive SS class mage to go therapy, things might get better! Yeah, that's happening.**

**The TSAB section: not quite the same as a normal Earth military. Wow, who would have guessed? Anyway, sarcasm aside, that is one of the points I was making here. Also, due to the lack of funerals in the anime I will be making it all up as I go along.**


	4. Chapter 4: Hope for the Best

**We're getting close to the end of the first season now. For those of you who want a time stamp, this begins two days after the last chapter ends, although story wise it doesn't matter too much how long it has been.**

And on an unrelated note… my reader from Brunei Darussalam? Thank you, whoever you are, for expanding my knowledge of geography. I am continually amazed at how diverse my audience is. Also, thanks to Anon X, Drinker, and random89 for reviewing even though they either weren't signed in or don't have profiles. I normally don't respond in a chapter, but, well, this is the only way I know how to reach you guys. Thanks for the reviews, I appreciate the feedback.

Drinker, my answer to your question is in the author's note at the bottom of the page. Hopefully I have answered it to your satisfaction.

**Once again, I have managed to mix together an eclectic mix of POVs and devices. If anything is done particularly well or particularly poorly, let me know. It is very useful for me to know, as it helps me become a better writer. The same goes for any glaring spelling and grammar errors. I'm doing my final look-over of this after midnight, so I'm pretty much guaranteed to miss something. Now, on with the show:**

* * *

><p>Chapter Four: Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst<p>

Uminari City's Seaside Park was a result of poor planning, a desire to have green areas in the city, and a gap in the public transportation system. While it was by all accounts a wonderful park, the city council had neglected to zone the surrounding regions in such a way as to make it easy to get to. Situated a brisk twenty minute walk from the nearest parking garage, the Seaside Park was an approximately triangular green-space that bordered the warehouses of the dock district on one side, the old industrial center on another, and the bay on the third.

As a result, in spite of its beauty and its large size, the park was mostly empty during the work week and only filled up during the holidays. For the majority of Uminari's residents, it just wasn't worth their time to go visit.

For Nanoha and Yuuno's purposes, it was pretty close to perfect.

After having discretely checked to make sure that nobody was too close to them, Nanoha and Yuuno got to work. Transforming back into human form, Yuuno donned his Barrier Jacket in preparation. Nanoha followed suit, but with visible hesitance.

"We don't have to do this if you don't want to," Yuuno offered. "There is a risk that my spell will cause an activation. It's unlikely, as Compositional Analysis was designed to be as low powered and non-intrusive as possible, but that isn't a guarantee."

But Nanoha shook her head. "We need to know more about the Jewel Seeds. If Fate's mother is a bad person then we have to be ready. Besides," she smiled, "if it activates I'll just seal it again!"

Nanoha's infectious cheer wrung a grin out of Yuuno. "Alright. Whenever you're ready, Nanoha."

"Un!" She hummed. "Raising Heart!"

"Yes, my master. Put out."

The two mages backed up a bit, and Yuuno pulled out a notebook and a pencil. When he saw Nanoha watching him, he flushed and explained.

"I don't have a device or computer capable of interacting with the spell, so I have to take notes on my observations by hand. I'll probably take five or ten minute if the Jewel Seeds are as complicated as I expect they are."

Turning his attention back to the innocent-looking blue gem, Yuuno was struck by the thought that it had only been a month or two since he had first found the Jewel Seeds. It felt like it had been a lot longer.

With a flare of green light, he got to work. Nanoha watched the Jewel Seed closely, but when it stayed dormant she sat against a tree and settled in for the wait.

* * *

><p>"I'll admit, I had my doubts, but this is working out pretty well, isn't it?" Arf commented idly. "We've been doing pretty well this past week. Just six more, right?"<p>

"Mother will be pleased." Fate smiled shyly. "It would be best to have all of them as soon as possible, though. If possible, we should capture them today."

"All at once?"

Oh, Arf, Fate mused. Always the worrier. Mother will expect the best of me, and so I will provide it. That's all there is to it.

But because she cared for Arf, it was only fair to give reasons that Arf would accept. Arf was irrational about Mother, and it was best to avoid the topic so that Arf would be in a fairly good mood for the meeting tonight.

"How else? They are at the bottom of the bay. Anything capable of activating one of them from the surface would surely activate the others. There is no advantage to waiting."

Arf didn't have a good response to that, so she settled for grumbling incoherently, much to Fate's amusement. The two of them would rest for now, and then move out later. And hopefully Arf and Mother would be able to get along. She didn't understand why they became irritated in each other's presences, but that was something they could overcome later, after everything went back to the way it used to be.

Life might be difficult now, but she would persevere. After all, Mother and Arf were her family. She couldn't imagine what she'd do without them.

* * *

><p>Yuuno's notes only filled two pages of his notebook, but the writing was densely packed, and the painstakingly drawn and annotated diagrams were incredibly accurate-looking. There was, however, one problem.<p>

"I don't suppose you could write your notes in Japanese?"

Yuuno blinked. "You can't read it? But it's the same as Raising Heart's programming language. You use it all the time."

"I kind of get it, but there are all these weird words I don't know. I don't speak space-archeology." Nanoha informed her friend without an ounce of embarrassment at the admission. "Could you just explain it to me?"

Suppressing a twitch at the term 'space-archeology,' Yuuno dove right on in with his professor-level lecturing skills: "Well, as you know, magic is the general term for the use of mana, which is a unique energy that, in ways not fully understood, is three-dimensional and four-dimensional at the same time."

"I didn't know that." Nanoha interrupted. "And that doesn't make sense; doesn't everything in three-dimensional space exist in four-dimensional space?"

"Technically, yes, but for practical purposes, no. Would it make more sense if I said that mana is energy that three-dimensional being can control which is able to freely and directly interact with higher-dimensional space?" Yuuno offered, feeling like a fool. He had had good reason to skip the less practically useful parts of the basics of magic, but he should have mentioned it at least once.

"I can understand that, but how does-"

"I'm an archeologist, not a physicist. Don't ask me exactly how it works." Yuuno cut in. "We can talk about it later when we have more time. What is important at the moment is how this relates to the Jewel Seeds. A Jewel Seed is a crystalline magical construct that contains vast amounts of mana."

"Okay," Nanoha nodded, "but how is that important? Didn't we know that already?"

"What makes it important is the inherent instability of the Jewel Seeds. Not only does it store and generate energy, it is specifically designed to release that energy. Furthermore it amplifies it by resonating with other magical structures. So, if you have one Jewel Seed you have a dangerous power source. But if you have several, then it gets exponentially more dangerous. Doing things like attacking it with magic has a similar result, as we saw a while back."

Nanoha nodded her understanding. Yuuno took a deep breath before continuing.

"But the worst part is that because of the nature of mana a sufficiently large number of Jewel Seeds being activated would have a similar effect on the dimensional sea to that of a black hole on three-dimensional space. Well, it actually isn't all that similar in terms of how it works, but the level of destruction that the formation of a black hole causes is the closest three-dimensional analogue that I can think of. The result would be a dimensional dislocation."

"You've mentioned that before… What is it exactly?"

"Yes. It was a dimensional dislocation that destroyed Belka." Yuuno reminded her. "As for what it is… well I'm not entirely sure of how it affects the dimensional sea, my area of interest is more what happens afterwards, but it isn't good. But demonstrating the approximate effect it would have on Earth is simple enough."

Yuuno tore a page out of his notebook. "Let's say that this represents Earth and the surrounding three-dimensional space before a dimensional dislocation."

Without warning, the boy set into the paper, ripping it, crumpling it, and stabbing it a couple of times with his pencil. He let the savaged pieces fall to the grass below, and then ground them into the earth with the heel of his boot.

"This is the Earth afterwards," he said, stone-faced. "If it doesn't just get erased from existence, that is."

The morning dew mixed with the dirt and the pigments in the paper, staining the off-white parchment the color of burnt flesh.

* * *

><p>It was Sunday, so Nanoha didn't really have any obligations. Normally she would help at the Midori-ya, go spend time with her friends, do homework, or just relax. These days, much of that was replaced by training and looking for Jewel Seeds.<p>

Today was different. Guessing correctly that Nanoha might need some time to come to terms with what she had learned, Yuuno had suggested that they split up for the afternoon. They had already debated for a couple of hours at that point, and they had ceased to be productive. So Yuuno had gone off to see if he could figure out how to make a 'Distortion Shield' which would be capable of suppressing a dimensional distortion, and suggested that Nanoha spend some time with her family and reconsider not telling them what was going on.

Nanoha wasn't going to do that. It would require her to think about the possibility of losing her family, and she would rather do just about anything else.

In this case, 'anything else' was something that she had been putting off for the last week or so. She needed to ask someone for advice about Fate. More specifically, about Fate's situation.

The elementary school student's feet led her out to the dojo, from which the quiet, repetitive sound of her brother practicing could be heard. Nanoha rapped lightly on the wooden sliding door, and waited a few moments for her brother to put away any weapons he was using.

Due to the inherent danger of live steel, their father had taken great care to teach Nanoha, Miyuki, and Kyouya how to handle the blades they had around the house safely. How to hold them, sheathe them, unsheathe them, and clean them. And, most importantly of all, the situations in which they were and were not allowed to use them and the precautions they had to take.

Nanoha had never learned how to actually use them as weapons and as Raising Heart was a staff she had even less interest in it now than before, but Kyouya and Miyuki had taken the time to do so. That was why she knocked; if Kyouya was using a live blade (or, more likely, two live blades given his preferred style) then he would have a chance to sheathe it.

A sword is always dangerous, but a sheathed one is much less likely to be accidentally so.

This time, Kyouya had apparently been doing strength exercises, as he was holding a bokken when Nanoha slipped into the room. Nanoha closed the door behind her, but wasn't sure of what to do next, so she fidgeted nervously. Fortunately, Kyouya's instincts told him what his little sister didn't, so he put away the practice sword and gave her his full attention.

"Nanoha," he said lightly, as if she wasn't obviously a few steps from a nervous breakdown, "I don't see you in here too often." Ruffling Nanoha's hair slightly, he smiled down at his pint-sized sibling, pondering how to get her to cheer up. "Ah!" He exclaimed, "While you are here, why don't you help me with my swords?"

Kyouya's offer gave a boost to Nanoha's confidence. Kyouya wasn't inherently violent in any way, but he took his two short swords very seriously, something Nanoha had only come to understand the reasons for after she had received Raising Heart. Letting Nanoha perform maintenance on one of the blades was a statement of trust, a faith that Nanoha could be trusted with his life it Kyouya had need of his blades in battle.

It was not quite as applicable in modern times, of course, and as far as Nanoha knew, Kyouya didn't fight anyone outside of matches, let alone with live steel, but the sentiment was there nevertheless. Kyouya was behind Nanoha all the way, even if he didn't know what was going on. It meant a lot to her.

* * *

><p>"You do know that unless we set up a barrier, they'll be on us in a minute or two at most?" Arf said, her fears about her master's plan resurfacing. At least she had a while to talk Fate out of it, since they had yet to find the best location for activating the Jewel Seeds.<p>

"A barrier would do little to help. The girl's companion is far more capable than either of us at barriers and movement magic. As there is little reason for us to try to limit collateral damage out on the water, there is no real reason to add to the strain of capturing the Jewel Seeds by maintaining a barrier."

Did Fate have an answer for everything? It almost sounded like… "Do you want them to be there?" Arf asked incredulously.

Fate shrugged. "It would save us the trouble of finding them later. Whatever the outcome is today, it will ultimately be moot. Mother needs more Jewel Seeds than we would have even if we capture all six here. We might as well set up a meeting for the final confrontation sooner rather than later."

"It's all well and good to plan ahead, but shouldn't we worry about what they'll do today first?" Arf suggested with her usual subtlety.

"Don't worry about that," Fate waved her off.

"Fate!"

"You'll see why I'm not worried later. There are other advantages to not using a barrier, after all. That girl won't be a danger to us today, and we certainly aren't going to start a battle. Relax."

Try as she might, Arf failed to get more than that out of her master, who simply devoted her full attention to the task at hand, leaving her familiar to try to decipher her vague assurances on her own.

* * *

><p>Carefully removing the two blades from their mounts, Kyouya carried them to where Nanoha had set up the cleaning implements, and passed one of them to his sister. Given how well her brother looked after the weapon, there was nothing special that needed to be done, but the process had a soothing rote nature to it. Unsheathe the blade, wipe the oil from the blade, dust the blade with powder, rub it to polish the blade, apply two drops of oil to each side of the blade, spread it evenly along the surface of the blade, re-sheathe the blade. It kept her hands and eyes busy, and by the time Nanoha re-sheathed the blade she knew what to say.<p>

"A friend of mine is hurting, and I don't know how to help them."

It wasn't a question. It was merely a statement. But Kyouya knew that his little sister needed a response. It was a strange relationship that the two of them had: Nanoha, always self-sufficient, never needy; himself, always nearby, never pressing. There was not an agreement, only an understanding, never spoken of for fear that it might vanish.

Kyouya knew that Nanoha preferred to never rely on others, but he was also aware that Nanoha did not always know how to deal with her problems. As she would not ask for help, she sometimes needed advice that would allow her to solve her problems. That wasn't the sort of help that authority figures could provide, as their job was to make sure that she didn't need to solve problems. If she had not been so young when the incident had occurred, then Kyouya would likely be as separated from Nanoha's life as their parents and sister were. Fortunately, he had, almost unknowingly, slipped into a gap in her life, and he was grateful for it.

Kyouya made sure that he was always available for Nanoha to talk to, and on the rare occasions when she needed… well, advice, not that they'd ever call it that, Kyouya never judged or asked questions. He did not overtly offer support, although support her he would, but rather he would offer suggestions.

In return, Nanoha would, if she could not find a solution to a problem, come to him instead of the alternative, which was normally her bottling it up and pretending that nothing was wrong. Well, that happened anyway, but at least she would come to him before she drove herself crazy trying to figure everything out on her own.

It could be nerve-wracking at times, but Kyouya felt it was well worth the wait for Nanoha to approach him. It was, he felt, his responsibility. And while the past could not be changed, their future as a family depended on such trust.

"It is important to take care to understand the cause of the pain." Kyouya stated solemnly, sheathing his blade and moving to his feet. He continued to speak as he approached the sword mounted on the wall of the dojo. "There are many types of pain, and many more causes. It is not always possible to prevent pain, nor is it always possible to heal what ails someone. But I have found that if you extend a helping hand, then sometimes they will grasp it."

Nanoha quietly shifted to his side. "What could I offer, when their pain is so deep that their eyes are filled with it?"

Kyouya considered that. This seemed to be a serious problem, and if he lived in a different country he would suggest getting them help. But this was Japan, and for better or for worse their culture took care of problems in-house, even if that was the worst possible way to handle a situation. And considering some of their own family's issues and private exploits, it would be hypocritical in the extreme to suggest breaking that tradition of silence. Nanoha would probably not accept that as a solution anyway.

Kyouya gripped his sword carefully, and slowly slid several inches of shining death out of its casing. "A sword is many things. A weapon. A defense. A promise. A duty. It can offer hope to the hopeless or inflict fear in the fearless. And yet…" He re-sheathed. "It is but a blade. A person, and, more importantly, a friend, is capable of all of that and more. I would say that there is little you could not offer them. But if I had to point to the most important thing, it would have to be 'sanctuary'."

Nanoha looked at him in confusion. "Sanctuary?"

He nodded. "Yes. It is a western term, which used to be associated with sacred places, such as shrines. The word is used for a place of safety. It is often a literal place, but in this case it might be more appropriate to say that it is a time or place in which one prevents the cause of pain from hurting a friend. Basically, one can provide sanctuary by separating a friend from their problems, at least for a time. A little bit happiness can go a long way." Kyouya cracked a smile. "That might be a bit too philosophical for you though. I've usually just offered to help and made sure that my friends know I support them. Time may not heal all wounds, but it certainly helps. Patience and persistence are important."

The two of them quickly and quietly put the dojo in order, Nanoha thinking about what Kyouya had said and Kyouya keeping an eye on his sister. Nanoha was still deep in thought when they stepped outside and he closed the door behind them, and only woke up when her brother squeezed her shoulder lightly.

"Don't over think it too much. Just be clear about your feelings, and be yourself. You'll manage; you're my little sister, after all."

Nanoha looked at him inscrutably for a couple of seconds, then bobbed her head, grinning. "Right!"

* * *

><p>Yuuno was about ready to give up at this point.<p>

Crumpling up yet another piece of paper and tossing it into the nearby waste receptacle, he glared at the blue sky above him as if it were its fault that he was making no progress. At the very least, it should have the decency to look as miserable as he felt.

The sky, of course, did not deign him with a response.

Grumbling, he pulled out yet another piece of paper from the package of printer paper he was using as a writing desk, and got to work again. From what little he knew about distortion shields, he should be able to use the spell to suppress a dimensional distortion, and given how good he was with barriers, fields, and shields, he would be able to use it to its fullest potential. Unfortunately, he didn't know the spell.

The TSAB had good reasons for not passing spells like that around like party favors, he supposed. But he was too annoyed at this point to justify the decision. He should be able to do this!

He had all the equations he needed. He understood the theory. He had the skill. He had the mana capacity. All he had to do was design the spell. How hard could it be, right? Yeah, famous last words.

It turned out that none of his spells could be modified by swapping parts out to give the desired effect. And that meant designing a new magic circle rather than modifying an old one. And that meant staring at a standard magical circle and trying to come up with a way to turn it into something useful.

So far, no luck.

If he had a week or two to spare, then Yuuno would have taught Nanoha dimensional physics and let the girl put her considerable abilities in spell creation to use. That wasn't going to happen any time soon though.

His latest attempt seemed to be on the right track at first, but halfway through the second layer of equations Yuuno realized that rather than stabilizing anything, he would instead wind up in an event cascade, draining himself of mana trying to futilely make it work, and more likely than not causing a dimensional disturbance. It was actually kind of impressive… in the same way that a train wreck is. Nevertheless…

Failure. Again.

"Yuuno!"

Nanoha's greeting kept him from defacing another innocent sheet of paper. Yuuno looked up in time to catch a bemused look on his friend's face, and he failed to miss seeing Nanoha's nose crinkling at the waste of paper. He grinned sheepishly; looking at the trash can next to the bench he was sitting on gave the impression that he had gone through a ream of paper. It looked as though he had filled it with discarded sheets, but while he certainly felt like he had, in truth it had already been mostly full when he had arrived.

Thankfully, Nanoha didn't comment on it, instead sitting next to him. She seemed calmer now, more focused. It seemed that she had found whatever she was looking for. Yuuno squashed the temptation to ask. It wasn't his business.

"I haven't had any luck." He grimaced. "It wasn't much more than a shot in the dark to start with. It probably won't make a difference; I wouldn't be able to suppress a full-blown dislocation anyway."

"Don't worry about it," Nanoha smiled. "We only have to worry if the bad guys get the Jewel Seeds. And we aren't going to let that happen."

Nanoha's spirit was infectious, but Yuuno had to point out the danger.

"They don't need all of them to be dangerous. They probably won't be able to cause a dimensional dislocation, but if they get the six that are left then they'll have 12 Jewel Seeds. That's enough to do a lot of damage."

Nanoha considered that, but before she could respond the sun was covered by clouds… clouds that hadn't been there a minute ago. Storm clouds choked the sky and lightning could be seen over the bay, lingering in a way that wasn't quite natural…

"What's going on?"

"Ritual magic?" Yuuno mumbled. "Why is someone doing ritual magic out over the water?" As soon as the words left his mouth, comprehension struck.

* * *

><p>"Arukas, Krutas, Eygieas… Heavenly gods who shine over all, descend upon us now as I guide you."<p>

* * *

><p>"Fate must be trying to activate the Jewel Seeds under the water!"<p>

Nanoha gasped, eyes widening. "All six at once? After casting such a large spell? We have to help her!" Raising Heart flashed, forming her barrier jacket.

A small part of Yuuno wanted to stay as far away from the area as possible. There were plenty of reasons to stay away. But the rest of him was already in motion, and it had some convincing arguments. Nanoha's idealism was infectious, it seemed; he had never been particularly cynical, but a couple of weeks back he would have had some serious doubts about jumping into danger to save his enemies' lives.

"I'll teleport us out over the bay, and we'll fly the rest of the way! It's too risky to jump in blind!"

Green light appeared beneath their feet.

* * *

><p>"Baruel, Zaluel, Browzel… Strike with lightning and roar with resonant thunder… Arukas, Krutas, Eygias…"<p>

* * *

><p>While the universe did not act dramatically appropriate around Yuuno, the Jewel Seeds were another story. So when Nanoha and Yuuno materialized a couple hundred meters over the once-calm bay, they found themselves buffeted by tempestuous gusts and bracketed by lightning. Half a kilometer or so away, six glowing, crackling waterspouts stretched up to the clouds.<p>

The two mages approached quickly, keeping an eye on Fate, who had launched herself towards the Jewel Seeds. The yellow glow of Bardiche's sealing form clearly showed her form against the thrashing waves.

"What are we going to do after we seal the Jewel Seeds?" Yuuno yelled to his partner.

"…I'll think of something. There has to be a way to avoid a fight!" Nanoha called back, her face scrunched up in determination.

"I hope you're right." He answered, but he couldn't tell if she heard him over the roar of the thunder.

* * *

><p><span>"Fate, they're coming. They'll be on top of you in less than a minute. Should I stall them?"<span>

"No, I need you to help me by constraining the Jewel Seeds. I did not expect to be so drained by this." Fate frowned. "Ignore them. We'll seal the closest three first."

"But what if they attack us?"

"They won't. If they attack us it'll be after they try to 'reason with us', and going by their previous behavior they won't even do that until after the Jewel Seeds are sealed. And if they do, we'll just leave. They'll have to deal with the Jewel Seeds if that happens; since there isn't a barrier they will have to take the time to make sure nobody gets hurt. I'm closing in, are you ready?"

"Why couldn't she go over this before-hand?" Arf groaned, but nevertheless the magic circle for Chain Bind appeared. "Ready!"

* * *

><p>Yuuno's eyes widened as orange chains lashed out and constricted around… three of the waterspouts.<p>

"No!" He turned to face Nanoha as they flew. "We have to seal the other three! There's too much magic being produced by the Jewel Seeds to only seal three at a time! If we can't seal them all at once, then the Seeds they're sealing could reactivate!"

"Right!" Nanoha called out-

-and then they were there.

* * *

><p>It was strangely anticlimactic. There was a brief scramble to seal the Jewel Seeds, with green and orange chains lashing out and pink and yellow ribbons of light enveloping the waterspouts, and then it was done. While the young mages were not professionals, save for Yuuno, although this wasn't exactly his area of expertise, the lack of active danger from the living water (at least, so long as they kept their distance from the stray arcs of lightning) and the extensive practice they had had allowed them to capture the six lost Logia in less than a minute. Their best time yet, not that they had ever cared to keep track.<p>

However, this only made the standoff that followed all the more awkward and jarring.

The six Jewel Seeds floated together in between the two groups, gleaming in the light streaming through gaps in the dissipating clouds. Nanoha and Yuuno flew beside one another, looking a bit windswept but otherwise unharmed. In contrast, Fate seemed to only be airborne thanks to Arf's support, the familiar wrapping an arm around the blonde's upper torso to steady her. Fate looked to be unharmed, but had a visible pallor to her skin and was clearly unsteady.

As if drawn together, the two pairs slowly drifted towards the Jewel Seeds, finally coming to a halt a few feet apart, almost close enough to reach out and grab the artifacts. No one spoke.

Really, what were they going to do now? Yuuno had to wonder. It would be almost pathetically simple to defeat their opponents in their current state. They could capture them, get information from them, finally have all of the Jewel Seeds… but they couldn't. That was wrong. They would be perfectly justified in doing so, but even thinking about it made him feel dirty.

His mind easily rationalized avoiding that course of action. Nanoha and he were civilians; they didn't have the authority to arrest anyone. They didn't know what might happen if they captured Fate and Arf; things could get worse rather than better. Fate could easily overstress her linker core in this state if she tried to fight back- and he was sure that she wouldn't go quietly.

They could grab the Jewel Seeds and leave. Again, it would be easy. And they had every reason to follow through; after all, their primary goal was to capture the Jewel Seeds. But it felt cheap. Wrong. They were supposed to be the good guys, and while Yuuno intellectually knew that the real world wasn't that simple he still felt that his childhood ideals were worthwhile, even though he tried to set them aside so that he could be the voice of reason for Nanoha.

There had to be some way to help Fate and seal the Jewel Seeds, didn't there?

Nanoha drifted forward slightly.

"Nanoha, what are you going to do?"

"Improvise." She responded, her mental voice hard and determined.

* * *

><p>All of Arf's instincts screamed at her to get out of here. They couldn't fight, they could hardly run, and she hadn't the faintest idea why she had allowed herself to get this close to her enemies. When the auburn-haired girl moved, Arf had to suppress her fight-or-flight response. The girl clearly didn't want to fight, and this was too good a chance to set up the final stage of Fate's plan to let this pass by. All Arf had to do was name a time and place for a meeting and then leave, and Fate's plan could proceed. But what was she going to say? 'I promise it isn't a trap?' So Arf let the girl speak first.<p>

"These Jewel Seeds are important to you, aren't they?" A rhetorical question and they all knew it. "I don't know what Fate's mother wants them for. I can't just give them to you when they are so dangerous unless I know her motives. But… I am just collecting them to keep them from harming the people of this world. If your mother has a good reason and it doesn't conflict with my wish, then there is no reason this couldn't end peacefully."

Time seemed to stop. Arf wanted to cry out in joy and at the same time she wanted to grab the girl and shake some sense into her. A peaceful resolution… but it wouldn't happen. Even if Precia agreed to share her reasons, That Woman was as evil as they came. There was no way she had a good reason.

"I see," Fate replied. "I will have to speak with Mother about this."

But Fate doesn't understand. This, this won't end well.

"Thank you. I hope to be able to meet her face-to-face and find a solution that pleases everyone." She considered for a moment. "Take these as a sign of good faith."

Everyone was taken aback at that, even the boy. Arf's mind raced as the Jewel Seeds floated over to Fate. She couldn't be that naïve. That was just about the worst possible move she could make here. What was she-

"After all, I wouldn't want your mother to… punish… you for failing to capture them."

Arf felt like she'd been punched in the gut. A strangled cry died in her throat, and as Arf stared wide-eyed at the girl, the brunette locked eyes with her. She knew.

Fate seemed to take her words at face value, merely being surprised rather than horrified, which in and of itself spoke volumes. The two girls exchanged words of acceptance and thanks, but Arf couldn't hear them. Six Jewel Seeds… just to let them know of her awareness? No, that wasn't right. Six Jewel Seeds just to test a theory. And now she knew. Just what was this girl?

"To contact me, leave a message at these coordinates. Hopefully I'll be meeting your mother-"

Arf didn't even try not to flinch at this point.

"-face to face in the near future. It will be good to clear the air. We have a lot to talk about after all. But regardless, my door is always open to you two." She smiled. "I'd like you to think of me as your friend."

* * *

><p>"Nanoha!" Yuuno hissed. "What was that back there?"<p>

"Oh, please, you saw it too." Nanoha snorted, much more snappily than normal. Yuuno actually recoiled in shock. He took a few deep breaths before continuing.

"I was talking about giving them six Jewel Seeds." He said, calmly. "You could just as easily have given them one or even three. But six?"

"Fate isn't the enemy here." Nanoha said, sitting down on a park bench to watch the sunset. "I showed her that I'm not her enemy. At least, I hope I did. Maybe I could have, or should have, done it differently. But it was the only way I could think of that was sure to get the message across."

Yuuno sat down next to her. "I guess you're right. I certainly couldn't have done better; I had no clue what to do. I just hope we don't regret it later. Twelve Jewel Seeds… that's a lot of power. At this point they only need a couple more Jewel Seeds, or equivalent sources of energy, to cause a dimensional dislocation. As it is, they could seriously damage the fabric of space-time if they are all activated at once."

Nanoha nodded, and then stopped. She grinned. "Now you're doing it too! Alright!"

"What?"

"Space-time. You said space-time instead of time-space." Nanoha said matter-of-factly.

"They're the same thing!" Yuuno defended himself. "Earth terminology is just catchy, that's all. It's not important. Why are you making a big deal about it? We're in the middle of a serious conversation here!"

"Call it planetary pride." Nanoha responded airily. Then she continued more soberly. "Besides, considering the situation, we need to find laughter wherever we can or we'll go crazy. If I start worrying about what could happen now, I'm not sure if I'll be able to stop."

"…You should tell your family." Yuuno suggested. "If not about magic, then at least about Fate. She'll need all the help she can get if this turns out badly for her."

Nanoha hesitated. "I'll think about it. I mean, you're right, but I need to figure out how to tell them. I still don't want them involved in this."

* * *

><p>"Go rest, Fate." Mother said softly, lightly touching my cheek. "I will think on this for a while. Take tomorrow to recuperate and I will tell you how the meeting will occur the day after."<p>

My heartbeat quickens. The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. "We can resolve this peacefully then?"

Mother frowns. "Of course. My goal is a just one, after all. Surely you do not doubt that? No, I can see you spoke without thought. Do try to control yourself, will you?"

I lower my head in shame. How could I have thought that? Of course Mother has good reasons. "My apologies."

"It is possible that she will not accept my explanation, but she is a young girl. And young girls can be so fickle, can't they? Silly things, not knowing who knows best. You aren't like that though, are you, Fate? You know that only your mother truly cares for you. You always do what your mother tells you, even when you don't understand the reasons. You're a good girl, aren't you, Fate?"

"Yes, Mother." Mother smiles a little at that. Not like she used to, but in that almost-smile I can see she is pleased with me. Soon enough, she'll be able to really smile. I will make sure of it.

"Run along now, Fate."

I go. As the door to Mother's hall closes behind me, I see Arf there before me. She looks surprised, but pleased. In fact, she's almost crying.

"Silly Arf," I say. "Were you worrying again?"

She hugs me, and I return it awkwardly. Hugs are strange. I'm never quite sure how to deal with them. Another thing to do after Mother finishes her work: learn how to hug again.

"Remind me to thank that girl," Arf mutters.

"What for?" I ask. 'Thanks' is something very special. That's why Mother doesn't use it much. The girl was nice, but she didn't do something as special as that. She said she wanted to be my friend. I wonder if that's possible. I know what friends are, but it is something I don't really understand. Mother will know. I'll ask her after she finishes her work.

"Don't worry about it," Arf says. "That's my job, right? Now, let's get you to bed."

Bed, yes. Mother told me to rest. Sleep sounds really good right now. It has been a long day.

* * *

><p>This is an opportunity I must grasp. I would normally teach that Thing a lesson for questioning me, but I need to be ready. Everything has to be perfect. The day after tomorrow, yes, that is when Alicia and I will journey to Al Hazard. Perhaps I can get the rest of the Jewel Seeds peacefully, perhaps not. It doesn't matter. I will succeed regardless. After all, those children cannot hope to succeed once that poor deluded doll leads them to the Garden of Time. Maybe they'll even survive? It doesn't matter.<p>

All that matters is you, Alicia. My sweet, sweet Alicia… I failed you once. I won't fail you again. This is my atonement. I take no pleasure from what I will have to do to save you, but it is necessary. I'm sure you'll understand.

But I will enjoy breaking that doll that dares to mimic you. For that crime, she deserves everything she's going to get.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**Well, things are certainly stating to move now, aren't they?**

**Not much in the way of fighting this time, although it is technically on-screen. Also, no Alisa, Suzuka, Chrono, Lindy, Shirou, Amy, Momoko, or Miyuki. So sue me, I didn't want to double the chapter's length. You'll see more of them later. This chapter was all about the main characters… and Kyouya. So it turns out that Nanoha's family isn't completely disjointed. Anyway, he was one of those sneaky characters that do things behind the writers back. I honestly didn't know he was going to do this until I started to write that scene.**

**Kyouya isn't perfect. He tries hard to be there for his little sister, but he can't always stick around and his advice isn't always particularly coherent. But everything he does is heartfelt and honest, and Nanoha knows that she can trust him with anything. Of course, that doesn't mean that she trusts him with everything. The Takamachi family dynamics are complicated. I tried to express this in that section. If you were kind of confused, but understood the gist of it, then I succeeded.**

**Just in case you are wondering, his swords do get used occasionally. Nanoha is locked out of the loop, as Shirou, Miyuki and Kyouya don't want the baby of the family involved in the sort of problems that require a 'physical solution'. Oh, the irony.**

**Concerning Precia. I have recently had a revelation concerning her. I've hid it here in the middle of my author's note so that this is a secret between me and those of you that actually read these things. It isn't that important to you guys who are here for the plot, but it is important because it is a noteworthy aspect of her character. Here it is: Precia thinks she is completely sane. **

**The only person she's worked closely enough with during the last twenty or thirty years to notice her mental disorder is… Jail Scaglietti. The single most insane character in the series. Lineth was only just beginning to realize when she died. Arf thinks Precia is just evil rather than amoral and insane. Fate loves her Mother. So Precia doesn't have the faintest idea that anything is wrong with her. She honestly believes that she is the good guy, that Fate is not her daughter, and that the 7 billion people on Earth are 'acceptable losses' so long as she saves Alicia. Wow. I've said it before and I'll say it again, she is a very sick woman who needs help.**

**Regarding the newest roughly-once-a-chapter-info-dump courtesy of Professor Yuuno, I do have a more complete idea of how things work than I expressed in this chapter. Unfortunately, as Yuuno states, he is an archaeologist. He is not an omniscient generic science guy. While he can, and will, be teaching us more about how the universe works, don't expect him to have all of the answers. He is very smart, but he doesn't know everything. His knowledge in this realm is pretty much confined to whatever he has picked up along the way, and whatever he needs to know to be able to use his magic.**

**So, more to come, but it will not be coming out all at once. Eventually Yuuno will have some spare time to teach Nanoha everything she needs to know. Maybe. Probably. We'll see. Definitely not in the next couple of chapters though.**

And to answer Drinker's question about whether or not I am sticking to canon, I am taking as my starting point a version of canon that includes Triangle Heart elements, simply because it helps me flesh out otherwise flat characters. For example, my version of Nanoha's father is an ex-bodyguard, and Kyouya and Miyuki have some mean sword skills and use them to do bodyguard and ninja stuff from time to time. However, Shinobu Tsukimura is not a vampire. I'm picking and choosing. Other than this, no retroactive changes. Every change in this story will be a result of the events chronicled here. I'm not burning the book, but I am scribbling on it.

**Things are changing now. I'll be doing my best to show where these changes occur, so everyone should be able to keep up. But, obviously, things are not going to be the same. I have an idea of where I'm going, and there will be some rather noticeable differences. But not everything is going out the window. You'll just have to wait and see.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Light of Al Hazard

**For stylistic reasons there will be no author's notes at the end of the chapter. My answers to any questions posed to me will be included at the bottom of next chapter, but otherwise I am having this speak for itself. But if you keep in mind everything I've said and done so far, you should be able to understand everything.**

**This chapter begins the morning after the previous episode ends.**

Chapter Five: The Light of Al Hazard

For the first time in a couple months, Arf woke up before Fate. Uncurling herself, the wolf took a few moments to appreciate the peaceful look on her master's face before leaping off the bed and transforming. Surprisingly, Fate continued to sleep, which earned a raised eyebrow from the now-human familiar. Fate must have been even more tired than expected. Normally the blond woke easily and early.

Arf smiled as she crept away. Let Fate rest; she had certainly earned it.

* * *

><p>Shirou Takamachi was up and about from the moment the sun peaked above the waters of the bay in the east. To be more specific, he was awakened about an hour before then by long-engrained sleep patterns that had served him well in the past.<p>

Waking up early now served primarily to give him time alone in the dojo. Unlike his son Kyouya and daughter Miyuki, he never trained with live steel. He had already had more than enough time to get used to the differences between a real sword and a practice blade. There was always room to improve, but between his old injuries and his aging body Shirou was content to tread water these days. A wooden weapon helped him keep his edge just fine.

Shirou nodded to Kyouya and Miyuki as they passed him on his way out. It was good to see their dedication. With any luck they would never need such skills.

But he didn't count on it.

* * *

><p>Precia Testarossa awoke exactly six hours after she went to sleep. As per her self-imposed schedule, she forced herself to take a short shower and shovel down a nutritious but bland breakfast. It was a necessary expenditure of time, especially recently. If she didn't take care of herself, she would likely succumb to her chronic ailments in short order. While she would soon reach Al Hazard, she would need to stay healthy until she could cure her daughter, and, hopefully, herself.<p>

She wanted to raise her daughter, after all. But, as always, she knew what, or rather who, her priority was.

Before she devoted her full attention to her preparations, she spared a thought for her old familiar. Eating pre-packaged food every day almost made her wish the creature was still around.

* * *

><p>Watching Kyouya demonstrate for her put Miyuki in conflict with herself.<p>

'**Wow, he's hot.'**

'_He's my brother. Mind out of the gutter.'_

'**Technically, he's my cousin. Sufficient distance to appreciate the view.'**

'_He's Shinobu's. Again, mind out of the gutter.'_

'Nice! Turning the blade that little extra way on the way out ensures that the arterial spray doesn't obscure his vision! And wow, he's fast! I can't wait until I'm as good as him!'

'…**And this is why I don't have a boyfriend.'**

Kyouya sighed. Surely he hadn't been as easily distracted as Miyuki when he was that age?

* * *

><p>Fate awoke to the smell of burnt toast. Not one to react much, she decided that given the lack of overt danger, it probably was nothing to worry about.<p>

Pulling her sheets off of herself, she noticed that she was wearing a nightgown. Arf must have taken advantage of her half-awake state to make her change into it. There was no other explanation. She didn't do pink, let alone frilly. She liked black, thank you very much.

Shucking the garment, the nine-year-old checked her injuries, using a small mirror to get a glimpse of the ones on her back. She was actually in pretty good shape. Her stitches had come out a couple of days ago, and thanks to Arf's careful cleaning she had avoided any infections in spite of an unwanted plunge into the sewers last week. She wasn't fully recovered from yesterday, but she was well on her way.

Arf came in shortly after Fate had changed into something a bit more practical, in this case a simple skirt and top combination in Fate's usual color. Unsurprisingly, the tray Arf was carrying had on it, among other things, toast. Unburnt toast at that, although some charred crumbs remained as evidence of earlier mistakes.

For once, Fate had an appetite, much to Arf's delight. Fate found herself enjoying the change of pace, and began to look forward to spending some free time with her companion.

* * *

><p>Nanoha transitioned from asleep to awake in a heartbeat. Turning off her cell phone's alarm, she forced aside the haze of sleep and performed her morning routine in record time.<p>

"You're certainly energetic this morning." Her mother remarked as Nanoha helped carry breakfast over to the table. "Is something happening at school today?"

"Not that I know of," Nanoha answered after a moment's thought. "I've just figured some things out."

Everyone was glad to hear that, but Momoko wasn't entirely reassured. She wasn't sure what to make of the expression on Nanoha's face when she said that.

Nanoha ate quickly and left the kitchen before she had to answer too many questions.

* * *

><p>"<em>The most likely answer we'll get is 'yes'. Then we meet on neutral ground and we talk. And more than likely… well, I'm not feeling too good about our chances of avoiding a fight."<em>

* * *

><p>"Arisa! Suzuka!" Nanoha beamed.<p>

"Nanoha! How have you been?" greeted Suzuka.

"Eh… Good, I guess? You make it sound like we haven't seen each other in ages."

"Hmph! We might as well not have! Finally done moping, are you?" Arisa needled.

"Mm-hmm." Nanoha nodded. "Oh, I'll probably be busy for the next couple days, but I'll be done soon enough. I might not be in school tomorrow though."

"What are you doing? And don't change the subject like you always do, inquiring minds want to know!"

"Arisa! Don't be so rude!"

"No, it's fine," assured the mage. "I can't tell you right now, but ask me after it's over, alright?"

"Yeah, alright." Arisa grumbled. "I'll be holding you to that!"

* * *

><p>"<em>But even so, there is no real way to predict their decisions. They could give us any response. They could be good or bad. We can speculate all day, but right now it isn't our move. What happens next is up to Fate, Arf, Fate's mother, and anyone else who might be involved. So there isn't a way to plan ahead. So let's make this as simple as possible."<em>

* * *

><p>"Are you sure you can't come? I have a new video game." Arisa pleaded. "I'd like to, but I just don't have the time." Nanoha apologized. "Text me later, OK?"<p>

"Fine… Hey, Nanoha?" Arisa averted her eyes. "Come back safe from whatever you're doing. It's annoying how you always forget to look after yourself." [I worry about you.]

"Arisa…" [You really missed me, didn't you?]

"Just why are you looking at me like that?" [Of course I did.] "Don't read too much into it!" [If I didn't, I wouldn't have waited so long.]

Suzuka giggled. Things weren't back to normal, but seeing her friends up to their old antics gave her hope that it would only be a matter of time.

* * *

><p>"<em>These are our goals. Save the world. Save Fate and Arf. Recover as many Jewel Seeds as we can. Oh, and avoid getting killed. Am I forgetting anything?"<em>

* * *

><p>"So how are you feeling?"<p>

"Dad?"

"Don't be so surprised." Shirou smiled gently. "Your mother and I are hardly blind. You may not have told us anything but we do know that you've been going through a rough patch recently. Now, I'm not here to demand answers, but I wanted to make sure that you know that you can come ask myself or your mother for help. It's what we're here for, after all."

Nanoha avoided his gaze as she took off her schoolbag. She started to speak, but then changed her mind, thinking hard.

"It's complicated." She finally said. "But a friend might need a place to stay for a while. Or maybe not. I… I don't know how it will turn out."

"Who does?" Shirou asked rhetorically. "They are welcome to stay here, at least for a while. I would not turn away a friend in need." He smiled wryly. "I would like an explanation sooner or later in that case though."

"Right." Nanoha cracked a smile. Well, she had been planning on doing that anyway, so she could hardly complain.

* * *

><p>"<em>Well we should find a nonviolent solution if at all possible, and if Fate's mother is a criminal we should try to put her under arrest." Yuuno offered.<em>

"_Can we do that?"_

"_If she's trying to cause a dimensional dislocation, then I'm pretty sure we could justify anything reasonable." Yuuno explained. "But officially… I have no clue what the rules are. That's something to worry about later. Save the world first, right?"_

* * *

><p>Night fell. The children went quietly to rest, their elders happy to be reminded of simpler times. The city streets slowly emptied, until Uminari was as close to asleep as a city in Japan could be. And above and a step to the left from the small blue world, keeping pace with the planet's spiraling, whirling dance through the vastness of space, a scientist rested her forehead on the cool curvature of her daughter's capsule, and dreamed of being a mother.<p>

* * *

><p>"I'm telling you, this is not going to end well!"<p>

Fate felt the urge to let loose a sarcastic comeback, but suppressed it, recognizing it as a symptom of her own nerves, much like Arf's tendency to babble when feeling stressed. "Arf, Mother smiling is a good sign. Mother has difficulty expressing herself, but she doesn't lie about her feelings. If she says she believes that the meeting will go well, then it will."

'What could I possibly say to that?' Arf wondered. 'You've been right about a lot of things lately, but where that woman is concerned you can't seem to figure out the truth.'

* * *

><p>"I sent a message to my family yesterday, including my notes. I've asked them to contact the TSAB for me, but considering that nobody from the Bureau responded to my first message or followed up on the original accident, I'm not holding my breath." That said, Yuuno smiled at his friend. "You will, however, be happy to know that I've submitted the paperwork to transfer ownership of Raising Heart to one Nanoha Takamachi. Congratulations."<p>

"Thank you!" Nanoha exclaimed, beaming at her friend.

Yuuno blushed. "It was nothing. Raising Heart has been your partner for ages, I just put it in writing. Ready to go?"

"Yeah!"

"Standby, ready."

* * *

><p>"Hello, Fate." Nanoha's voice conveyed her pleasure. The rest of her was placid. Calm. Focused.<p>

Yuuno thought that Nanoha was at her most dangerous like this. Inside her shell was a maelstrom of emotions, just waiting to burst out. Nanoha was uncomfortably similar to a dormant volcano right now.

"Mother wishes you to know that she agrees to meet with you and attempt to resolve this situation. If you accept, I will transport all of us to our home, the Garden of Time." The rhythm of rote repetition could be hear d in Fate's words.

Yuuno and Arf exchanged glances, trying to gauge each other's reactions, while Nanoha closed her eyes and heaved a sigh. While the implication was that a peaceful revolution would be sought, the message didn't promise anything. That didn't actually mean anything, of course, but it wasn't exactly a good sign.

"Of course. I would be happy to."

They couldn't waste this chance. For Fate, for Arf, for everyone who would be hurt if the Jewel Seeds were used maliciously or irresponsibly, they had to follow through on this.

Fate smiled, relieved.

Nanoha smiled back. "Whenever you're ready."

The girl nodded. "Very well." Holding Bardiche with both hands, she closed her eyes and focused.

"Dimensional Tranfer. Dimensional Coordinates- 4369 8C54 1243 D705 4628 9914E 33F B9260."

As she chanted, a magic circle formed beneath the four of them. Yuuno gave Nanoha a reassuring nod as he recognized the circle's function.

"Open, O Door of Invitation to the Garden of Time. To the household of the Testarossa family!"

Fate's yellow magic rose up, enclosing them in a dome. Something tugged at Yuuno's memories, but whatever the thought was, it slipped away as he tried to grasp it. Then there was a blur and a shift and they were gone.

* * *

><p>"Miyuki, could you wake Nanoha for me?" the Takamachi matriarch asked distractedly before turning her attention back to the lady on the other end of the phone. "Yes, we can do that with no problems, Doctor Ishida. For June 4th, right?"<p>

Miyuki left the kitchen and walked up to Nanoha's door. When knocking failed to cause any audible stirring, the high school student shrugged and opened the door. If her sister didn't want to be woken up the hard way, she should have spoken up.

"Rise and- Huh. Is she in the bathroom or something?"

* * *

><p>Nanoha found herself standing on a green stone floor. A massive rocky structure was in front of them, which Nanoha guessed was the Garden of Time, as behind them was nothing. An empty void that somehow had <span>stuff<span> in it and moved. The wide projection that they stood on was lined with columns topped with glowing blue orbs that somehow illuminated the area much better than they should have been able to. Where the path between the columns met the rocky cliff face of the Garden, huge golden double doors were set. The entire area was simplistic, austere, and more than a little creepy.

"Mother awaits us." Fate spoke, her voice sounding small and dampened, as if the emptiness around them absorbed it. Fate walked off towards the doors, the others trailing behind her. Their footfalls were strangely quiet, as though noise was suppressed by their surroundings.

Arf easily opened the door in spite of its size, though whether that was because the door was unnaturally light or because the familiar was unnaturally strong, Nanoha couldn't say. Past the door, they found themselves in a more warmly-lit area. The lighting was yellowish, and seemed to be rather constant in spite of a lack of obvious light sources. Once again, there was nobody else around, which Nanoha thought was odd. A place this big should have many people in it. Maybe they were elsewhere?

Maybe there was no one else. Nanoha focused on her companions. She wasn't alone. She wasn't. There was no reason to worry about that anyway. She wasn't a scared little girl anymore. But the thought was not so easily squashed.

The four of them wound their way further into the extensive complex, mostly going straight, but occasionally going up or down flights of stairs or curving to the right or left. Every couple of minutes they came across something that was decorative (large statues of robed women, gilded wall decorations, elaborate banisters…) but Nanoha's impression was that the Garden of Time was not truly lived in. It might be 'the household of the Testarossa family', but it wasn't a home. It was empty. Lonely.

Nanoha stared at Fate's back. She wanted to pity the blonde for living here, but (_alone, all alone, stay out of their way, don't ask for help, when is daddy coming come?_) she shook away those thoughts. She had moved on. That was the past. She had friends. She had family. She wasn't alone, not anymore.

And if she had anything to say about it, neither was Fate.

* * *

><p>"Where has Nanoha run off to?" Muttered Momoko. "Shirou, have you seen her this morning?"<p>

Shirou frowned. "No, no I haven't… I just hope she hasn't run off to do something rash…"

* * *

><p>Due to Fate's slow, methodical walking speed, it took them a good twenty-or-so minutes to arrive at their destination.<p>

As the doors closed behind them, Yuuno's mind kicked into high gear, analyzing his surroundings. He had to force himself to think tactically rather than archeologically as he scanned the room. The space was large and rectangular, with pillars around the sides, a circular open area in the middle with a higher ceiling, and a slightly raised dais on the other side of the room. On the dais was a stone throne, occupied by a purple-haired woman in her 50's or 60's, circled by twelve Jewel Seeds. Once again, Yuuno felt himself on the cusp of remembrance. He knew her from somewhere, didn't he? But from where?

Regardless, she looked a bit too old to be Fate's mother. Was she sick and just looked older than she really was? Yuuno's eyes narrowed. Something here seemed off. But what?

"Good. You came." The woman gave a half-smile to Fate and Arf. "Please wait outside." The 'please' was somewhat strained. Arf looked like she wanted to say something, then thought better of it.

As the two of them turned to walk away, Nanoha spoke up. "If it isn't too much trouble, I'd prefer they stay. After all, they are as involved in this as anyone else." The woman glared at her, but she didn't back down, meeting her gaze levelly.

"Very well. It matters not." She said dismissively, which made Yuuno twitch. What was with her, anyway? Yuuno was a level-headed individual, but it was as though the woman was trying to be as unpleasant as possible without breaking the bounds of propriety. "Let's get down to business. My name is Precia Testarossa." He knew that name, but from where? Yuuno frantically tried to remember, knowing that this was important, but nothing came to mind. "And you have already met Fate and her familiar, Arf."

Nanoha's body language told Yuuno that she wanted to slap Precia, but nobody else picked up on it. Nanoha simply nodded. "I am Nanoha Takamachi. My friend is Yuuno Scrya."

"Then let us waste not more time on pleasantries. You wish to know what my reasons are for collecting the Jewel Seeds. To put it simply, I want to save my daughter's life."

* * *

><p>"I want to save my daughter's life."<p>

Arf almost choked. What was that woman saying? She had never given Fate's wellbeing the slightest bit of attention. And Fate was quite healthy, no thanks to Precia. This was probably the most blatant lie Precia could have spouted.

Arf could see that she wasn't the only one surprised. The two mages (Nanoha and Yuuno, she reminded herself) had reactions similar to her own. Fate looked pleased, but was unsure why she needed saving.

"Is something wrong with Fate?" exclaimed Nanoha worriedly.

"No," Precia snorted. "Fate is perfectly fine." You don't have to sound so disappointed, you sorry excuse for a- "My daughter Alicia."

What?

* * *

><p><em>Alicia.<em>

Something was wrong. I am Mother's only daughter. I must have misheard.

_Alicia._

Mother must not have wanted me to worry about her. I hope we will get along after we help her. Is she my little sister or my big sister? …Why does this feel so wrong?

_Alicia._

Do I know that name? Of course not. There must be an explanation. For some reason my lips move. They spell out:

_Alicia._

Why is my heartbeat so loud? **Lub-dub. Lub-dub.** The crash of valves, the shockwaves of contracting muscle. **Lub-dub.** Perfectly normal. Perfectly natural. But why so loud? **Lub-dub. Lub-dub.**

_**A-li. Ci-a.**_

Mother's arm rises. Light shines forth. An image of Alicia? She floats, asleep. She must be my sister, she looks so much like me. Why, we have the… same… face…

"_Alicia, come here." Mother smiles at me._

What? I don't understand. Why did she call me-

"_Alicia, do you want to come to work with me some time? Of course-_

-I do but I'm Fate, not-

_Ali-Cia._

Who is-

_**A-li. Ci-a.**_

"What happened to her?" 'Nanoha'. I grasp onto that name. I know her, not well, but I know her. She makes sense. So do 'Arf' and Yuuno'. But who is 'Alicia'?

Who is 'Fate'?

* * *

><p>"An accident. A terrible accident. A mistake was made, and we paid the price, my Alicia and I…"<p>

There was something wrong here, Yuuno sensed.

"…After the reactor…"

Something wrong with this woman.

"…My Alicia was…"

And something… familiar.

* * *

><p>"Did Fate get out alright?" Why hadn't she mentioned her? Was she not there with her sister?<p>

"Fate?" Dismissive. Uncaring. "Fate didn't exist." So this was before Fate was born, then? "That thing-" What? "-came about after a failed attempt to cure my Alicia. But even with my Alicia's body, even with my Alicia's precious memories, the result was but a mockery."

"…"

"Fate wasn't useless, I'll admit." Precia threw out magnanimously.

"…"

"And to think, without Jail's advice, I'd have gotten rid of her years ago like I wanted to. I doubt you care about that though."

"…"

"I plan to use the Jewel Seeds to open the path to Al Hazard. By travelling to the heart of the light that springs forth from a dimensional dislocation, the Light of Al Hazard, I will reach that fabled civilization and use its wonders to cure my Alicia."

Precia dragged her gaze from the image of her daughter that had entranced her while she spoke, looking hopefully towards Nanoha. "Will you help me?"

* * *

><p>"…That thing…" Mother?<p>

"…Failed attempt…" I- I don't…

"…A mockery…" But- No- Please-

"…have gotten rid of her years ago like I wanted to…" …

Fate collapsed bonelessly to the floor, unaware of Arf catching her.

* * *

><p>That woman, how dare she? I am going to destroy her! After all that Fate has done for her?<p>

A snarl worked its way up from deep within Arf's chest. Only devotion beyond thought kept her at the side of her crumpled master rather than at Precia's throat.

* * *

><p>"…reactor…"<p>

"…Fate…"

"…Alicia…"

"…Precia…"

"…accident…"

"…Testarossa…"

Yuuno's mind buzzed, puzzle pieces swirling. And suddenly everything slipped into place. A memory of a theory, Hydra. An accident, no, a perfect storm of accidents. A massive controversy. And a name…

* * *

><p>"Shut up." Nanoha shook with anger. "Just shut up!"<p>

Precia was taken aback.

"How dare you say that about Fate? She's done so much to help you and, and you say that about her?"

"You're focusing on that doll?" Precia sputtered incredulously. "I'm asking you to hand over the means to save my daughter's life, and you only care about that soulless clone? Stop being so absurd!"

"N-Nanoha-" Yuuno tried futilely to catch his friend's attention.

"As if I could even consider helping you! The coordinates of this place… Raising Heart says they're right next to Earth! I'm not going to let you kill seven billion other people's sons and daughters so that you can bring your daughter back and treat her like you treat Fate! If anyone here is soulless, it's you!"

"You…!"

"Nanoha, stop!" Everyone's attention was drawn to Yuuno. "She's Precia Testarossa! She's an SS-Ranked mage! You can't fight her!"

"I don't care if she's Amaterasu Herself!" Nanoha yelled. "She's threatening to kill everyone I care about! If I let her, I'd never be able to forgive myself! Raising Heart!"

"Shooting Mode."

Raising her device, in one quick wave Precia stored the twelve Jewel Seeds around her. The cyclopean staff began to crackle with purple lightning.

"Divine-"

A purple storm of electrical arcs lunged towards Nanoha.

* * *

><p>A 'mana conversion affinity' is essentially what it sounds like. A mage with such an affinity has the ability to create and (to varying degrees) manipulate a 'classical' element such as fire, ice, lightning, air, wood, and so on, in some cases to the point that they would be hard-pressed to use a spell that did not take on any of the characteristics of that element.<p>

This is particularly useful in combat, where the affinity often gives a free 'power-up' to attack spells (fire burning, lightning shocking, ice lowering temperature, and so on). Depending on the usage, a spell can result in, for example, a lightning bolt, obeying the laws of normal, everyday, three-dimensional physics, or it could simply look like it is electrified but not actually exhibit that property when touched, or just about anything in between.

Precia Testarossa's spell was a handful of lightning bolts artificially aimed at her target. So it was (1) purple and (2) not as fast as the real thing.

It was just slow enough for Nanoha, caught completely off-guard, to widen her eyes in horror before it hit her.

* * *

><p>"Nanoha!" Yuuno sprinted to her side. "Are you alright?"<p>

Twitching a little, Nanoha shakily tried to stand, her barrier jacket badly scorched. "Yeah, I'm-"

CLUNK.

CLUNK.

CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK .

That golem wasn't there a second ago, Yuuno thought hysterically. Or it's friend. Or all the relatives…

"I need three more Jewel Seeds. I don't care how I have to get them."

They were surrounded, trapped.

"If you won't help me, then I'll make you."

Yuuno helped Nanoha to her feet. Dozens of glowing weapons tracked them.

We're all going to die-

_Please… Lend me your strength!_

We aren't soldiers! And even if we were, an SS-

_I'll repay you, I promise!_

No, no, don't even think about it. It was not your fault. Don't-

_Nanoha's ashen face as she stared at the remnants of his demonstration of a dimensional dislocation._

Precia sneers at the two of them. Crackling barrels prepare to discharge. Arf cradles Fate in her arms.

_I don't care if she's Amaterasu Herself!_

No, no, no, no, NO!

_I'll tell them later. When this is all over, I'll be able to tell them everything, and it won't be a problem. You and I, we'll tell them everything together, okay? Maybe we'll get Arf and Fate to help us tell the story. Wouldn't that be nice?_

_Alright. Your planet, your rules, I guess. With any luck, in a few years time we'll be able to look back on this conversation and laugh at how silly I was being._

Think smart!

_You're here with me, aren't you?_

_Of course. Like you, I'm here until the end. _

Be rational!

_As if I could ever consider helping you!_

Find a way to stop this!

_She's threatening to kill everyone I care about!_

Negotiate! There has to be a way!

_If I let her, I'd never be able to forgive myself!_

He opened his mouth to speak.

* * *

><p>'Stupid, stupid, stupid!'<p>

Nanoha grit her teeth as Yuuno helped her to her feet, angry at herself. Why had she done that? That woman deserved to get a Divine Buster to the face, but starting the fight with a move that needs a few seconds to charge? Without being ready to dodge?

'I'm lucky she didn't splatter me all over the walls. She didn't take more than a second to launch that attack… and now she brings these robot things out of nowhere… she can't be powering them all herself, can she?' Nanoha's eyes darted back and forth, scanning the enemies. 'If she could… it doesn't matter. I have to beat her. If they're like normal robots, they have batteries, wires, motors. I can smash them to pieces.'

Nanoha rose up a few centimeters, buoyed by her flight spell. Raising Heart's soft voice resonated into her mind through her magic:

'Standby, ready.'

* * *

><p>The girl's fortitude was impressive, Precia noted. Her barrier jacket had prevented any real damage, but the magical armor was not in the best of conditions. It was, however, intact, and the girl did not seem ready to give up in spite of being surrounded by golems.<p>

Time to fix that.

Precia sneered as the magical cannons she had given her golems reached full charge. The girl looked determined, and the boy nervously raised a hand to ward off the attack. The girl would try to dodge and counter-attack and the boy would likely-

"Ring Bind!"

Precia's encyclopedic mind identified the common MidChildan spell instantly. _Highly versatile but weak binding spell. In most common use, restricts movement by ensnaring extremities and applying force to attempt to fix their location relative to the location identified by the caster as the zero coordinate. Designed so that number and location of targets may be modified easily-_

Green bands materialized around the muzzles of the glowing weapons, dragging them away from their targets-

The cannons fired-

The magical projectiles flew-

Connected.

Precia and Nanoha both stared on incredulously as the room was cleared of golems by Yuuno's spell. The golems' weapons were forcibly placed nearly muzzle to muzzle, and the attacks explosively impacted each other. The backlash tore up the formerly-threatening cannons, and the resulting shrapnel slammed into the inner workings of the robotic minions, which became useless scrap in seconds.

"I don't suppose you'll come quietly?" Yuuno asked nervously.

Precia scowled, and gestured with her device, whisking away the remains of her golems. Almost immediately thereafter, four obscenely large mecha with massive artillery pieces on their shoulders broke through the throne room's walls, prompting Nanoha and Yuuno to unconsciously back up towards the door behind them.

"Yuuno, get Arf and Fate out of here! If they get caught in the crossfire-"

"I can't leave you here to fight them alone!"

"Please, Yuuno! Remember what we're here to do! I'll keep her busy, you get them out of here so I can cut loose!"

Yuuno's gaze slid to Arf, huddled protectively over Fate, then to the giant golems, around which the air was slightly distorted by strong barriers, then to the monstrously powerful woman opposite Nanoha. His friend was right, if Fate was still here when the battle got into full swing her chances of survival approached zero.

"Don't you dare die on me while I'm gone!" He called out as he ran towards the two noncombatants.

"My new spell will handle this easily." Nanoha assured him mentally. The giant enemies' weapons built up magical blasts, the glowing mana forming orbs larger than she was. She gulped, but only gripped Raising Heart tighter, her eyes glinting with determination. "Try to find a way to make it impossible for her to cause the dimensional dislocation. Just in case." It wouldn't do for her to win, only for Precia to pull off some last-minute back-up plan.

Not waiting for his reply, she cut the telepathic connection so that she could focus on the fight.

Precia's attention was drawn by Yuuno's motion, and the woman scowled at the sight of him speaking with Arf and Fate. How could Nanoha distract- No, don't be stupid. It's easy. You're fighting her, so fight her! She reminded herself.

"Divine…" she muttered "…Shooter."

Precia saw the pink orbs easily and blocked them with no trouble, but Nanoha derived a little satisfaction from her irritation. Well, if at first you don't succeed…

"Divine Shooter!"

* * *

><p>"Wake up, Fate, wake up!" Arf hissed as loudly as she dared, afraid to attract attention. Glancing out from behind the column she had carried Fate into the shadow of, Arf kept track of the halting 'fight'. Precia had initially been in control, but somehow Nanha and Yuuno had taken the initiative… and done nothing.<p>

"Come on, do something. Keep her off-" Too late, she realized with a grimace, as Precia's reinforcements arrived. They don't know what they're doing, Arf thought. They're strong and they're talented, but they're trying to fight her like they fought us. And they know that it doesn't work like that, they aren't trying to talk to her, but they don't know what to do instead. They should have taken Precia down hard, fast, and permanently, but now they've lost their chance and are letting her drive the fight. They can't win this.

And after Precia is done with them, she'll do to us what she did to Linith. We aren't useful anymore. And then…

Arf turned her attention back to her catatonic master, but her mind continued to churn. How many people would die? Nanoha had said seven billion and hadn't even seemed to consider how many other worlds might be affected. Seven billion… she couldn't even imagine that many people. How did a planet with that many people on it not have more mages? Why didn't Nanoha and Yuuno have reinforcements?

"Quick, we have to get out of here before those golems fire!" The boy's voice called out, and Arf saw to her surprise that Yuuno was rapidly coming her way. Behind him Nanoha peppered Precia with that small shooting spell of hers.

"How? She sealed the exits when she started talking to you!"

"She just knocked open a few new ones." Yuuno gestured to the holes left in the walls by the entry of the giant golems. "You'll have to carry Fate while I defend us. You lead, I'll be right behind you." He dithered for a second. "And, I understand if you aren't willing to help, but we need to find a way to stop Precia so if anything comes to mind-"

"Move now, talk later!" She yelped, eyes on the golems behind him. Picking Fate up, she hovered off the floor, Yuuno doing the same. Arf took a deep breath, the need to hurry warring with her doubts. This plan was a huge leap of faith. Yuuno wasn't necessarily an ally, in fact minutes ago he had been an enemy, and just because 'stop Precia' sounded good to her didn't mean that Nanoha and Yuuno really had Fate's best interests in mind, and this was assuming that Yuuno's defensive spells were capable of seeing them through safely…

_Take these as a sign of good faith._

_I'd like you to think of me as your friend._

_Remind me to thank that girl._

_My door is always open to you two._

"…Have to start trusting someone at some point." Arf muttered. Yuuno looked at her, waiting for some sort of cue. "Follow me."

* * *

><p>Nanoha watched with bated breath as her friends flew along the side of the room towards the closest gap in the walls. A grunt from Precia showed that she was not the only one who noticed. Lightning lashed out, but a large green Round Shield protected the three escapees, who disappeared into the depths of the Garden.<p>

"Don't be too pleased with yourself, girl. They won't be getting far." Precia snarled. "And you won't be going anywhere at all!"

The golems opened fire, each canon unleashing a beam of destruction as wide as Nanoha was tall. The golems attempted to predict her movements and cut off her escape routes, and so rather than all intersecting at her current location, the attacks saturated the region of space she occupied.

"Flash Move."

As Raising Heart intoned the name of the magic, Nanoha used the spell to hurl herself towards the closest golem, escaping the field of fire by putting herself in the giant's shadow. The golem attempted to swipe her out of the air with a metallic arm, but Nanoha nimbly flew around it and curved back behind the machine. Scanning for a weak spot, the part of her that was a normal child was disappointed at the lack of an obvious weak spot like in videogames. The part of Nanoha that was in charge was disappointed that she was going to have to destroy the enemies the hard way. But she was far from discouraged.

All she needed was time, and her new spell would level the playing field. Swerving around the fist of the giant golem behind her, Nanoha danced around the hulking machines, looking for an opening.

10 seconds. Ideally 15 or even 20, but 10 seconds was enough. But how to get them?

Nanoha's eyes flickered across the battlefield, and she began to plan.

* * *

><p>"You two should go to work," Kyouya suggested to his parents after Miyuki left to catch the bus. "I can stay home today and keep an eye out for Nanoha."<p>

"Don't you have a big test tomorrow?" asked Momoko. "I know you study better if you work with your classmates."

Kyouya shook his head. "Nanoha is much more important than that."

Shirou beamed with pride. He had many regrets, but his children, biological or otherwise, weren't among them.

* * *

><p>"Oh, no."<p>

Arf's words were rather apt. Not very descriptive, nor quite able to fully convey the seriousness of the situation, but apt nonetheless.

"So, just how many of these golems are there around this place? And is that a turret?" Yuuno asked as he tried to peer around the corner, almost afraid to know the answer.

"More than enough, and yes." Arf replied, glad they hadn't been spotted yet. "I don't know how to make that woman stop her plans, but I do know that Fate and I weren't allowed access to some areas of the Garden. It stands to reason that those places are the important ones. The closest is through the door at the end of the room. But with security active…" Arf shook her head. "We'd be better off grabbing your friend and getting help. Do you have any other allies?"

"No," Yuuno grimaced. "If I had known who we were up against I would have risked leaving Nanoha alone while I went to the TSAB for help, but I thought it was too risky. And Earth doesn't really have the sort of forces needed to deal with this, and they don't know about magic in any case, so barring kidnapping heavy armor division we're out of luck. And even then we'd still have to deal with Precia…"

"…Well, crap." Arf got a look from Yuuno, but just rolled her eyes at his prudishness. "So do you have any skills that might be useful here? Because I don't fancy my chances of fighting my way through them, especially not while carrying Fate."

"I'm an archaeologist! A historian! My skill set doesn't really match up with this sort of thing! Why would you even-" he paused. He glanced around the corner at the amassed enemy forces. "How long would you need to break down that door?"

"No more than a couple of seconds, unless it's got some kind of special shielding. What do you have in mind?"

"Well, my Uncle has this trick that he uses when dealing with trapped hallways…"

* * *

><p>The golems were fast, but their mass kept them from being able to change direction quickly, and they weren't nearly innovative enough to trap her. Unfortunately, they were smart enough to avoid hitting each other, or she would have already tricked them into smashing each other to pieces.<p>

But she still had the same problem. What could she do to get enough time to prepare? Nanoha stared at one of her mechanical opponents intently…

…and smiled.

* * *

><p>"There is no way that is good archeological practice."<p>

Yuuno tried to defend himself. "Well, you put up a barrier first-"

Arf cut him off with a grunt. "Does it work?"

"…In theory. I mean, it will," he hurriedly explained after a glare from Arf, "but I've never tried to make so many before. It's pretty much the opposite of my usual strategy. I don't know how much time you'll have."

"…"

"…"

"I hate not being able to think of a better plan than that." Arf growled. "I'd almost rather fight my way through."

Yuuno figured that that was close enough to a 'yes'.

* * *

><p>"What is that girl up to?" Precia mumbled. Really, what was the girl trying to achieve here? Flitting about her golems like an insect was pointless, although it did show that her golems were failing to close the tactical gap between 'massive destruction' and 'can be defeated by a simple shooting spell' as she had hoped they would. It wasn't as if Precia lost anything by making Nanoha do acrobatics, in fact it helped tire the girl out. But it was getting to the point where Precia was about ready to start taking potshots, collateral damage and poor health be damned.<p>

Precia narrowed her eyes as pink motes of light started to become visible from behind one of the golems. A thought was all it took to bring the feeds from the cameras into view. Quickly finding an image of Nanoha, her eyes widened at the sight of the girl, perched right between the armored casing of the power supply and the metallic barrel of the shoulder-mounted weaponry.

A pink sphere was growing under the supervision of a large magical circle. Precia crushed the urge to figure out how the girl was doing it, and instead noted the attack's trajectory. Cursing her weak lungs, she gave rapid commands to her golems and threw up a shield-

"Starlight… Breaker!"

* * *

><p><em>It was a simple plan, based on some simple facts.<em>

Yuuno gritted his teeth as he allowed a shield to fade, an axe slicing through the air behind it.

_A shield exerts a force counter to the attack it is meant to block._

A dozen small magic 'bullets' from a turret were stalled by a shield, then pushed on through. But they hit nothing.

_A powerful shield can block the strongest of attacks under the right conditions._

Arf held Fate close, and kept her eyes fixed on the door they were racing towards. Around her, green light shone, flaring and fading.

_But even the weakest shield can slow the strongest attack… for an instant at least. But sometimes an instant is enough._

Flying through the center of a tunnel of interlocking, but separate, shields, the group poured on the speed, not trusting the flimsy, weak constructs to hold up. Yuuno forced back the instinct to flood them with mana, to defend himself and his allies properly, knowing that he could not hold up the hundreds of magic circles that guaranteed their safe passage if he did.

_It was a tactic a human opponent could easily defeat. It clearly showed their destination, could not withstand any serious attack, and anyone with a lick of sense would break into the tunnel ahead of them and blast them out of the sky._

"Photon Lancer!" Arf called out, using Fate's spell to damage the swiftly approaching door. However, it remained shut.

_But traps, or golems for that matter, are not human. Golems are intelligent, but not smart. They cannot adapt beyond their programming. They see an enemy, they attack it. They can anticipate movement, they can use tactics, they can coordinate with each other… but the idea of purposely attacking a shield that did not protect anything would never occur to them._

Arf shifted Fate to a fireman's carry, mentally apologizing for such rough treatment. Now having a hand free, she blitzed towards the door, putting a couple hundred pounds of shapeshifting wolf into a punch.

With a groan of twisting metal, the door gave way. Their momentum carrying them through the doorway, they skidded to a halt inside a moderately-sized room. Wasting no time, Yuuno threw out a hand towards the open doorway. "Aegis!"

"I can't believe that actually worked," Arf panted as she came down from the adrenalin rush. Carefully laying her master on the floor, she turned her attention to her newest ally. "You alright?"

Yuuno gave Arf a weak grin. "I'm good. That was more mentally straining than anything else. We should get moving. Aegis will hold out against pretty much anything, but if we take too long I'll run out of mana or they'll break through the walls. We have plenty of time, but I'd rather not push it."

Glancing at the doorway, Arf took a moment to examine the magic circle. "…What is this? Seven layers? What is this, a sized-down city defense spell? Why would you even learn this? Were you planning on insulting a clan of dragons at some point in the future?" Yuuno didn't respond, and Arf realized that he was tapping away at a computer. Which was… pretty much the only thing they could do in here, Arf realized, as this was some kind of computer center… or perhaps a control room? There was something that looked like a control panel over there…

Yuuno's typing paused. "Arf, do you know Precia's password?"

Arf leaned over and took a look at the computer screen. She shrugged. "No. Have you checked to see if she taped the password to the underside of the desk?"

Giving Arf a disparaging glare (it was the first thing he had done) Yuuno considered the computer, giving it a funny look. "Hard way it is, then." He muttered, doing some weird hand gestures and closing his eyes. Arf arched an eyebrow at him, but only seconds later a beep from the terminal informed her that he had somehow bypassed the security. Not wasting a moment, Yuuno started browsing the files at top speed, and considering that he was FINALLY doing something his job had prepared him for, that was rather fast. Annoyingly, Precia had not flagged the important files, and had preferred to use letter-number combinations as headers rather than actual words, but it was only a matter of time until he found something.

"Why didn't you just do that to start with?" Arf asked. Yuuno twitched. If she wasn't so obviously stressed by Fate's condition, he would have told her to shut up, but as it was…

"It's illegal to do it without permission. I'm only supposed to do it to access data stored on computers from the civilizations I study."

A distant rumble from elsewhere in the Garden reached their ears, and the floor shook slightly.

"Nanoha…" whispered Yuuno. He turned his attention back to the computer and started searching even faster.

* * *

><p>Nanoha observed the results of her attack from the air. The beam had been stalled by the golems, all four of which had moved between it and the target, Precia. Nevertheless, it had smashed through them and dug a respectable trench across the floor before smashing a hole into the lower levels of the Garden.<p>

Precia was nowhere to be seen.

Nanoha slowly descended a little and did a flyover of the wreckage of the machines, hoping to spot Precia but unwilling to take the risk of letting herself be blindsided while casting Wide Area Search. Not finding anything, she flew over to the hole in the floor and peered through. Had Precia been knocked in?

The question was put on hold as the rubble shifted, one of the golems rising shakily to its feet. Nanoha eyed it suspiciously, watching as electricity played across it, reminding her of similar sights in the past. Well, there was an easy way to tell if she was right. A "Divine Buster!" easily ripped through the remnants of the golem's barrier, the pink beam tearing off one of the machine's legs at the hip. Rather than wasting time to watch, Nanoha activated Raising Heart's Sealing Mode, wings of light bursting forth as the machine fell.

Raising Heart spoke up. "Four energy sources detected, master."

Nanoha frowned. Surely she couldn't have missed four Jewel Seeds activating? Well, not dealing with this wasn't an option, so…

"Target all of them."

"Yes, my master."

Pink ribbons of light darted towards the robots, piercing their severely damaged outer casings with ease. Finding their targets, Nanoha pushed a surge of mana to Raising Heart to finish the job. Disappointingly, the jewel-like sealed structures were not Jewel Seeds. They were almost twice as large, bulkier, red, and had knob-like protrusions on their corners. Mentally shrugging, Nanoha had Raising Heart store them under the premise that anything remotely resembling a Jewel Seed was not something Precia could be allowed to hold on to.

Now that the golems were dealt with once-and-for-all, Nanoha surveyed the room, even more on edge than before. Precia was here somewhere, Nanoha felt sure of that. A glimpse of her scorched barrier jacket reminded her to take advantage of the lull, and she set Raising Heart to work repairing her defenses while she waited for Precia to reemerge.

She didn't have to wait long.

Precia emerged from the lower levels of the Garden absolutely furious. Her barrier jacket was badly scraped up, but she looked ready and willing to tear Nanoha apart. Coming to a halt on an undamaged piece of ground, Precia prepared a spell by charging her device with her purplish electrical mana, reminding Nanoha that she should be moving and shooting rather than floating there like an idiot.

Purple lightning lanced towards Nanoha, who dodged and answered with a Divine Shooter, which failed to penetrate the translucent shield that blocked its way. Nanoha allowed the edge of another attack to splash against her barrier jacket in exchange for an extra second to charge up a Divine Buster, which was easily matched by what appeared to be Precia's version of Thunder Smasher, not that the powerful mage actually bothered to say the name.

Nanoha took too long to move afterwards, and found her left leg caught by Precia's device, which had become some sort of plasma whip. Her barrier jacket kept it from tearing her foot off, but did not prevent Precia from dragging her to earth with a powerful yank. The whip became a normal device again before Nanoha impacted the ground, but Nanoha still only barely managed to make the landing 'hard' rather than 'neck-breaking', and the stone floor's ungentle caress knocked the air out of her.

Knowing that she was only a few meters away from her enemy, Nanoha summoned the strongest Round Shield she could on such short notice. Thankfully, it successfully deflected Precia's lightning, and Nanoha put some distance between the two of them by way of an oddly effective combination of rolling, scrambling on hands and knees, and running. Taking to the air again just ahead of another spray of lightning, Nanoha used Flash Move to escape the magical blast Precia tried to use to ground her. A harsh cough wracked Precia's body, and Nanoha was thankful for the chance to catch her breath.

And then battle was joined once more.

* * *

><p>"Just how paranoid is she?"<p>

"Properly, apparently, considering what we're doing right now." Yuuno muttered. He sighed. "This isn't going to work. We just don't have the firepower. Nanoha might, but…" He shook his head. "Even if we did manage to destroy every piece of equipment in the entire Garden it would ultimately only be a small setback. The only truly irreplaceable part of her plan is the Jewel Seeds."

"It would give us the opportunity to get help." Arf pointed out. "Which, as much as I really, really hate to admit it, we really, really need."

"Let's try to find a plan that gives us a decent chance of surviving long enough to do that." Yuuno snapped. He winced. "Sorry, it's just…"

Arf's eyes were drawn to Fate. "Yeah. I know what you mean."

"You know, Nanoha asked me to find a way to stop Precia, 'just in case'." Yuuno said, needing to vent and figuring that Arf was as good an audience as any. "That's like a normal person saying 'call an ambulance while I walk through this minefield'. It's the closest I've ever heard her get to admitting out loud that she might fail. I mean, she kind of acknowledges the possibility, but most of the time she treats it like something that won't happen in reality, or something that's just a temporary problem. She asked for a failsafe. A backup plan. She never does that. And the stakes are just so high…"

Yuuno flicked through the file directory again, but nothing new showed up. "The one time she asks me to do something truly important, and I fail." Arf couldn't think of anything to say to that. As harsh as it was, she couldn't really say that he was wrong. "…You should take Fate and leave. I could teleport to MidChilda." Yuuno offered. "It isn't as if you have a reason to stay here anymore. And in her condition staying here is a big risk."

Arf hesitated, but shook her head. "No. I… I couldn't just leave you here to die. It would be the smart thing to do, but… you two have been trying to help us and trying to save the world and… I don't know. I should say yes, but… I couldn't look at myself in the mirror if I did. And I know Fate would never forgive me. I mean, if it really just comes down to running or dying then I'm all for running, but we still have time, right? So I'm not giving up just yet!"

"Look, as glad as I am to hear you say that, Precia has been spending who knows how many years thinking of ways people in my position could try to stop her and finding ways to make my job impossible." Yuuno laid out the painful truth. "I wouldn't even say my odds are one in a million. If Nanoha loses, then staying here with me is nothing more than a particularly painful way to commit suicide."

"Then why are you still here?" pointed out Arf.

"…If I let her destroy Nanoha's world, I could never forgive myself. It might be suicide… but I promised her when we first met that I'd repay her for her help. And if I have to, I'll die trying to do that." Yuuno turned his back on Arf and started looking over the schematics again. "And even if I hadn't made that promise, I can't to turn my back on the people of Earth if there is even the slightest chance I might save them."

"Then how could you expect me to feel differently," protested Arf, drawing his eyes again. "If you ever tell this to anyone, I'll make you pay for it, but… even though Fate is my first priority, that world, Earth, has been more of a home to us than the Garden of Time ever was. I don't think you realize just how much it affected us. Seeing people going about their daily lives, walking among them, experiencing the sheer life on that planet compared to this necropolis…" Arf shook her head. "Nanoha was the first human child Fate ever spoke to. The two of you might be her very first friends, or at least the closest to it she's ever had. Earth has done so much for us, without even trying. It gave us hope. And that's worth protecting."

It wasn't a prepared speech. It rambled. It stumbled. But it came from the heart.

Yuuno smiled, and chuckled. The whole situation was absurd, and yet somehow their almost certainly suicidal path felt like the right one. "Then I guess we'll just have to… protect… it…" He turned back to the computer screen and pulled up several files. "I… think I have an idea. It isn't ideal, and it probably will fail horribly, but…"

"That's worked for us so far, hasn't it? Why ruin a good thing?" Arf snarked.

They exchanged grins. They had hope. After all, all it took was one chance… that was all it took to succeed. Even one chance in a billion was still one chance. They had the beginnings of a plan. They just had to make it work.

* * *

><p>Fighting Precia was completely different from fighting Fate, save for the lightning motif.<p>

Fate was fast. Very fast. Nanoha had been forced to adapt, using her natural talent for flying to take advantage of Fate's lack of imagination and improvisation and catch her off-guard. Fate had poor defense, at least compared to Nanoha's above average skills and Yuuno's incredible capabilities. So Nanoha's plan of attack had been to try to get enough room to use her spells, and blast away with shooting and bombardment magic at every opportunity, hopefully getting some good hits in before Fate retook the initiative. Fate could, and did, close the distance between her and her target at every opportunity, and she was able to cross a battlefield in seconds.

Precia, on the other hand, had yet to move so much as a step since they started fighting. The SS-ranked mage (which Nanoha was beginning to suspect stood for 'Seriously Scary') had yet to activate a flight spell. She had yet to dodge. She just stood there and utterly eradicated everything Nanoha attempted. Using a Divine Shooter was like throwing a pillow at a brick wall. Precia could fire a beam capable of matching a Divine Buster with less than a second of charge time. And as for Starlight Breaker…

Another cough racked Precia, and Nanoha took the chance to fire off a Divine Buster. Incredibly, Precia managed to not only match it, but to start to overpower it, and Nanoha cut her attack short in favor of getting out of the way.

…If Nanoha had 10 seconds, she could end this. There was more than enough magic in the air. Nanoha was practically swimming in it. But Precia was fast. Not physically fast like Fate, but fast in casting. She never seemed to stop throwing out those lightning bolts, and Nanoha knew from experience that they hurt.

Nanoha flung herself through the air from one side of the room to the other, she spent mana like water, and she used every trick she had to try to protect herself, but she was only just barely keeping herself from being fried by Precia's lightning, and her attempts to harm Precia amounted to nothing. Worse, Nanoha was scraping the bottom of her reserves and Precia looked as if she was doing some light exercise rather than spamming bombardment spells.

But Nanoha couldn't afford to lose. She knew what she had to do to win, and she would find a way to beat Precia into the ground even if it killed her.

Time to try a new approach.

Aiming Raising Heart at Precia as she barrel-rolled away from an attack, she yelled out the only combat spell she had yet to use against her foe.

"Restrict Lock!"

Essentially a Ring Bind which uses a primitive mana-collection component to form, Restrict Lock was the spell that had told Nanoha that Starlight Breaker was possible. But in this moment, it was important because it did the one thing no other spell had during the fight between Nanoha and Precia.

It succeeded.

Boosted in power by the sheer quantity of mana around Precia, the scientist's limbs were trapped in place, as if her ankles and wrists had been nailed to their locations.

Nanoha had wasted enough opportunities today, and wasn't about to miss another. "Raising Heart! Starlight Breaker!"

"Yes, my master!"

Wings of light sprang forth, and the light of the stars began to gather.

* * *

><p>"I think we need to find a different way out."<p>

So they have reinforcements then.

Yuuno fiddled with something on the control panel Arf had spotted earlier, referencing notes and computer screens. "I can try to teleport us to our target, but that would be… risky."

Which was another way of saying 'I can get us there in five seconds if you don't mind materializing with part of your body inside a wall.'

"I could try and fight. Draw some fire, and you could escape with Fate."

Ah, Arf, always forgetting to protect yourself.

"No way. And besides, we need to go up to floors. I wouldn't be able to make it without help."

Yuuno, the quiet boy. Always with… who?

Someone is missing. I feel like someone should be here.

"We'll fight together. You attack, I defend, hopefully we'll make it."

They need help. Someone should help them.

"Do you think she's alright?"

"Precia hasn't shown up yet, so Nanoha must be holding out."

I know those names. There's something important…

"…Do you think we should try to help her? Rather than this?"

"I want to make her pay for what she's done. But how could we help? Could either of us honestly say that we wouldn't be in the way?"

Mother… Nanoha… Alicia…

Finishing the first part of the plan, Yuuno put his hand in the middle of the control panel and slammed what might generously be called a 'magical bullet' into the sensitive equipment. It was an insult to offensive spells everywhere, but it did its job. "We'd better get moving. After all, Nanoha's counting on us. If she loses, and we don't succeed…"

Everybody will die. The office workers I watched walk home after work. The children in the parks. The shopkeepers that we bought food from. The young couples, and the elderly ones, who looked at each other with love. No more sunrises and sunsets. No more birds. No more Arf or Nanoha or Yuuno. No more anything.

If I don't help them…

I'm done feeling sorry for myself.

"Bardiche."

"Get set."

"What?"

"Fate!"

Arf is hugging me tightly. But I don't mind. I've put her through so much…

"I'm back. Don't worry." I reassure her, and I scratch her behind the ear. "We can do this." I gently break the hug short. There is work to be done. "Support me, and we'll break through the enemy and split up. Arf will reach Nanoha and evacuate her to the site of this morning's meeting if she is losing. Yuuno and I will handle the rest. Arf, let us now the situation as soon as possible. Any objections?"

Arf whined a little at being sent away, even for a short period of time but acquiesced. "If you let her get hurt…" Arf eyed Yuuno, who got the message. But there was a little bit of trust there, and Arf's words weren't quite as threatening as they would normally have been. I smiled. At least something good had come out of this.

"You heard our plan?" Yuuno asked, seeing the look on my face. I imagine he really wants to know if I heard everything, but I'm not about to mortify Arf by saying that, so I just nod. "It is risky, but if Nanoha can't… beat Mother then it is our best hope."

Arf couldn't stop grinning, nearly bouncing with joy at her master's return. Yuuno nodded resolutely, but less troubled than before.

"Drop the shield in 3. 3-"

"Photon Lancer Multishot," intoned Bardiche.

"2-"

Arf shifted to wolf form.

"1-"

Yuuno hovered, waiting.

"Now!"

The yellow spheres shot out, one after another, clearing the doorway of enemies. Reforming and firing, reforming and firing, the orbs struck down the mechanical opponents with superb precision. In mere seconds, Fate had done enough damage for leaving cover to be an acceptable risk, and Arf led the charge out into the larger room. Yuuno felt out of place with the slick teamwork that Fate and Arf effortlessly demonstrated. But he quickly picked out the simple method of entangling any golems that got too close for comfort with Chain Binds, allowing Fate and Arf to deal with them at leisure.

Whatever tactical programs the golems had were unable to adapt fast enough to Fate's unexpected revival. Soon enough, there wasn't enough firepower left in the room to be a serious threat, and the three skilled mages left nothing but piles of scrap behind as they bulldozed through their enemies. Where before trying a frontal attack would have been highly risky at best, Fate's return enabled them to cover each other's backs, using their specialties to the fullest.

Tearing the wiring of a golem out with her teeth, Arf removed the last obstacle to leaving. The three of them congregated briefly out in the hallway.

"Stay safe Arf." Fate smiled sadly. "Thank you… for everything."

Arf grinned toothily, her wolf form obscuring any other reaction she may have had. "You too, Fate." With that, Arf raced off towards the distant rumble of battle.

Fate watched her go. "I'm not worthy of such loyalty."

Yuuno awkwardly put his hand on her shoulder, causing Fate to jump slightly. He smiled reassuringly. "It isn't really my place to say this, but… Arf loves you. You don't have to earn her loyalty; it's a gift from her to you. Whether or not you feel you are worthy is unimportant as far as she's concerned. Just follow your heart and try your best, and be honest about your feelings."

Fate stared confusedly at him. "That… doesn't make any sense." There had to be more to it than that, right?

Yuuno shrugged, smiling. "It's love. As far as I've been able to figure out, it isn't supposed to."

* * *

><p>Nanoha gritted her teeth, seeing a small crack appear in Precia's binds. The woman looked crazed, practically frothing at the mouth as she struggled against the magic pinning her in place. 8.<p>

Precia screamed in wordless rage, forcing a jagged gash to open in the bind on her right arm. Compartmentalizing, she focused on control, knowing that if she gave in to the desire to annihilate the binds she would damage much more than she intended. If only she had chosen to meet down on that planet. It would have been riskier, but she wouldn't have to hold back for fear of destroying the Garden and Alicia with it. She would have destroyed Nanoha hours ago. 9.

The concentrated power of the spell was much larger than normal, and Raising Heart devoted nearly all of her processing power to dealing with it. The intelligent device managed the tricky task well, and then -10- it was time. And then:

The bind on Precia's right arm shatters. Precia for the first time, calls out her attack's name as Nanoha calls out hers.

"Starlight Breaker!"

"Photon Burst!"

An almighty wave of energy, pink-toned starlight, erupted forth from Nanoha, powerful enough to make her previous Starlight Breaker look like an emaciated shadow. But Precia, staff glowing brightly, hurled her mana at the incoming beam. Rather than a bombardment spell, Precia forcibly contained the explosions of compressed mana that the area-of-effect Photon Burst generated. Forcibly reducing her power output and directing the results, Precia managed to stall the Starlight Breaker with only meters to spare, trying to push back without destroying half of the Garden. Through constantly forming dozens of concussive mana blasts, she stymied Nanoha, who responded by pouring all of the man she could into her attack.

"Break through!" Nanoha cried, and shoved her mana into the spell. Starlight Breaker slowly began to overcome Precia's efforts, but the scientist did not give in.

"**I will save Alicia!"** Precia roared, and ignoring the splitting pain in her head and the distress of her ailing body she cast a second spell simultaneously. **"Thunder Rage!"** The pressure and pain Precia was feeling increased exponentially, but she smiled as a lightning storm opened up above Nanoha's head.

Unable to dodge while maintaining Starlight Breaker, Nanoha screamed. Liquid agony rolled across her body as her tattered barrier jacket shredded and evaporated under the prolonged assault. But this was it, all or nothing, so Nanoha used a binding spell to lock her forearms in place and continued, even as her body was wracked by spasms and her vision shuddered and her heart stuttered and the pain…

Both combatants experienced extreme tunnel vision. Their worlds shrunk to each other. Once they won, the pain would stop. Unable to give in, unable to back out, they pushed forward, Precia's body failing and Nanoha's consciousness fading.

And then, in one final explosion of effort, Starlight Breaker crashed through, striking Precia.

And everything went dark.

* * *

><p>This was taking too long. That was Yuuno's fear as Fate and he fought their way towards their goal. They could make it, but could they make it in time? In his mind he could see the route they were taking, and while it looked good on paper-<p>

He entangled a half-dozen golems, allowing Fate to eviscerate them with her scythe.

-it was a really long way to go if you had to fight constantly. Yuuno considered his mental map, and looked at the small craters Fate's spells were leaving in the walls. Time for a shortcut.

"Fate! Shoot a hole in the ceiling!"

With only a slight hesitation as she figured out what he had planned, Fate turned to face the roof and blew a small passage into the hallway above with a Thunder Smasher while Yuuno protected her with his shields. Fate led the way through the new 'door', and Yuuno called out directions as he followed his ally. "Third right, second left, second door of the left!"

Nodding her acknowledgement, Fate considered her current partner. He didn't have Arf's intuitive ability to know how to support her, and he wasn't as magnetic or open-hearted as Nanoha, but he was kind and dependable. She wasn't sure exactly where she stood with him (or with Nanoha for that matter) but Fate found herself looking forward to finding out more about what being friends with them might mean.

* * *

><p>Arf skidded around a corner, only to stop, puzzled. The noise she had been hearing was gone. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?<p>

Starting to run again, the wolf familiar gnawed on her dilemma again. She had lied to Yuuno to ease his conscience, but truthfully she believed that she could make a difference. As strong as Precia's magic was, if Arf could get close enough then tearing out Precia's throat would be easy. Or if not easy, then at least doable. And if it weren't for Fate's condition at the time, Arf would have already attempted that.

Sadly, MidChildans would always insist on staying nonlethal, except for ones like Precia. As far as Arf was concerned, Precia was dangerous, evil, and deserved to die. No matter how you looked at it, someone like her was too risky to leave alive. And there was her promise to Linith to consider… Hopefully Nanoha didn't have the same problems with killing that Fate and Yuuno had.

But what if she did? And, well, that was rather likely, wasn't it? It was easy to forget that Nanoha, Fate, and Yuuno were all little kids, but nonetheless it was true. Of course, she was one to talk, being younger than all of them, but even if she could look human she had grown up as fast as if she were a wolf. If Arf's limited experience with Nanoha held true, then Nanoha would do the 'right thing' rather than the 'smart thing' every time. Arf ground her teeth together, wondering what she was going to do if Nanoha tried to stop her. Or what if Precia had won? Should she attack anyway, probably getting killed and failing Fate? Should she turn and run, meet up with Fate and Yuuno and convince them to leave, allowing Precia to win?

Stop worrying about it, she scolded herself. 'What if' doesn't help. You'll find out the situation soon enough.

That didn't make her feel better.

* * *

><p>"That's the one we need." Yuuno pointed. "Cut the power cords, no, make the cut further away from the base, we'll need those later. Alright, stand back."<p>

Fate backed away as green light formed a magic circle below the machine.

"Dimensional Transfer. Dimensional Coordinates…"

As Yuuno chanted, Fate closed her eyes and focused on her familiar.

"Arf…"

* * *

><p>"<span>Looks like we'll need that plan after all.<span>"

"PuT ouT~"

Precia's device captured the three Jewel Seeds that appeared from the damaged Raising Heart.

"Very cute," said Precia in a tone that made it very clear that she didn't appreciate it. "But I'm not about to let you keep the others. I dislike loose ends." She raised the red orb to eye level. "If you don't want your precious 'Master' to die right here, right now…"

"uSeR noT AcCEpteD. LocKDoWN." The light in the device faded.

"Then I'll just have to unlock you, won't I?" Precia's eyes narrowed. Suddenly spinning around, she blocked a small pink projectile with her shield. "You really are quite incredible, aren't you?" She remarked, walking over to Nanoha's crumpled form. "Very resilient. And rather impressive in your ability to cast such powerful spells without an incantation. But-" CRACK "-I must insist that your displays of talent cease."

Sobbing, Nanoha tried to cradle her broken forearm. Biting through tears of pain, she gasped out a question. "Why- Why do you h-hate Fate so much?"

Precia laughed. "You really are something. Worrying about that thing at a time like this?"

"H-her name is Fate!"

Precia sneered. "Oh, please… You're serious? You're actually serious. You actually care about that thing." The scientist looked honestly shocked. But she sneered again. "I suppose you'll realize the truth eventually, if you by some miracle survive. That thing isn't even worth hating."

Nanoha wasn't entirely sure what happened next, but there was a meaty THUD and suddenly Precia was gone from her field of vision and Arf was there holding Raising Heart.

"She's worth loving!" The familiar snarled, before grimacing as Precia stood up slowly. Since when was that dress of hers a barrier jacket? Did she never stop wearing it, even when just Fate was around? Pushing such thoughts to one side (she really didn't need to reflect on how screwed up Precia's relationship with Fate was) Arf's doubts bubbled up to the fore. Should she have kept up the pressure? The way Precia moved indicated that the woman had gotten a serious beating under that barrier jacket of hers, and the possibility that she might be seriously weakened made Arf freeze up in indecision. Could she beat Precia? Should she fight? Should she run?

"You." Stated Precia coldly. "I suppose the rest of you will come crawling out of your hiding places at some point?"

"Not unless you're planning on getting a new personality in the near future." Arf took half-hearted pleasure in Precia's annoyance. What should she do?

"Give me that device, familiar." A few arcs of purple lightning formed on Precia's device to make it clear that there was a threat attached to the command.

In the end, it was Nanoha that decided it. The situation was the much the same as Nanoha's earlier. If Arf wanted to fight Precia, she had to be willing to let Nanoha get caught in the crossfire.

Arf just wasn't that cold.

"Sorry, Linith." Arf muttered as she picked up Nanoha. Nanoha's eyes widened as a circle formed beneath them. Nanoha painfully turned her head towards Precia.

"I hope… that it's worth it."

And then they were gone.

Precia's attack screamed through the empty space they once occupied and the scientist snarled when she saw they had escaped. Then she stopped, looked at her device, and smiled. After all, she had what she needed.

* * *

><p>Even if they had the same magic circle, it would be a stretch to say that Arf's spell was the same Dimensional Transfer spell used by Fate and Yuuno. Rather than a smooth transition, they were wrapped in a bubble of magic and hurled into the correct general area and Arf course corrected as they, for lack of a better description, careened across the yawning void.<p>

Nanoha's landing, at least, was cushioned by Arf's body.

"Arf!"

"Nanoha!" A pause. "Physical Heal!"

As the pain slowly diminished to levels Nanoha could deal with, Nanoha smiled shakily at Yuuno, who looked badly shaken. Her smile faded. "Sorry, Yuuno. Looks like I failed."

"Not yet." Turning to the voice, Nanoha's face lit up. "Fate! Thank goodness! When I saw you collapse…"

"I will be fine." Fate looked a bit unsure, but she was clearly much better than she was earlier so Nanoha figured it was a good sign. "But at the moment there are more pressing matters."

"There are still 6 Jewel Seeds in here-" For a moment, Nanoha felt a brief almost-pain in her chest. "-but the device is in some kind of 'Lockdown' or something."

"Ah! Raising Heart!" Nanoha yelped. Her chest throbbed, but she ignored it. Arf handed over the device. "Are you okay?"

"The damage is mostly superficial, master."

"Wait," Arf said, "what?"

"No such function as 'Lockdown' exists." Raising Heart proclaimed smugly, if that was possible.

Arf snickered, getting it. "You, I like. Okay, Yuuno, tell her the plan, Fate, help me make a sling for that arm of hers."

* * *

><p>Alicia's temporary resting chamber sat in the middle of a large room. Precia examined a bank of monitors carefully, ensuring that all was ready for their journey. Finding Yuuno's actions logged, her eyes widened in shock at his success in accessing her files. In rapid sequence, emotions flitted across her face as she tracked his movements. Surprise. Fear. Confusion. Relief. Finally, with an amused shrug at his desperate yet oddly effective plan, she watched him leave with the clone in tow.<p>

It would not change her plans. It would not harm Alicia. And as much as she wanted to make the clone suffer, she didn't particularly care to waste time on it when she finally had everything in place. Alicia was her first priority.

She just had one more thing to do before she began.

* * *

><p>Once again regretting not having given Nanoha a solid basis in magical theory and higher lever physics, Yuuno tried to put it as simply as possible. "Everybody grabs a power cord in one hand," Yuuno held up a finger-thick, futuristic-looking tube attached to a weird, tulip-shaped machine, "puts there hand on the activating Jewel Seeds, and wishes really, really hard for the magic to power the machine."<p>

Nanoha snorted, jarring her broken arm and wincing as she did so.

Then she realized he was serious.

"I strongly suggest that you work on your communication skills," Arf commented dryly "because I know what we're doing and that still sounds crazy."

Correctly interpreting that he needed to explain in more detail, Yuuno explained what the goal was. "This machine, to make a long story short, channels magic to… well, I guess you could call them satellites. Satellites that will use that magic to form a sort of defensive screen around Earth by- uh, I'm not actually sure how to put it in layman's terms…"

"It stabilizes a shell of powerful time-space distortions around us." Fate suggested. Arf used Fate's cape as a makeshift sling, ("Fate, remember to keep your barrier jacket active until we get something more permanent, or the cape will disappear.") putting it under Nanoha's arm and tying it in place around her neck.

Yuuno nodded. "It's really complicated, but that's the general gist of it. But since we literally cut it out of Precia's power grid and we're trying to protect something a lot bigger than the Garden we need a huge power source, so… Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Nanoha assured, pulling her hand away from her chest. "You did a good job on the burns. It just feels a little strange. So… you think this will work?"

"If we can power it, I'd say we have a better than even chance." Yuuno said proudly, but then grimaced. "The biggest risk is to us. We've all seen Jewel Seed activations before, so you know the risk. But the other major danger is that we'll be channeling quantities of mana way beyond the natural capacity our linker cores. And I mean several orders of magnitude beyond at that." Yuuno fidgeted. "I mean, it could go fine, or it could kill us instantly, or it could make us lose the ability to cast spells, or it could supercharge us and give us massive mana capacities… People don't experiment with things like this. The opposite problem is the one everyone usually worries about. I- I just don't know."

"I don't really see how it matters," Arf commented dryly, settling Nanoha's forearm into the sling to minimize movement. "Basically, we succeed or we don't."

"All the same, I'd like to give you one last opportunity to leave." Yuuno once again offered. "Assuming we succeed, it could be months or even years before it becomes safe to try to leave this planet. I'm fine with that, but I want to make sure you know what you're getting into."

Fate spoke up. "If it works, then I would be satisfied. I… do not wish to die. But… while I came to this world for Mother's sake, I think that I would like to do this… because I want to, in spite of the risk. And there are worse places to be stranded."

Nanoha smiled. "This is my home. I can't even imagine not trying to save it. And… if it's okay with all of you, I would like to call all of you my friends. I mean, I know friendship isn't that easy to just make happen, but… I'd like to try to be friends with all of you."

"…I would like that." Fate mumbled, but Nanoha heard and swept in to give her a one-armed hug.

"Nanoha, you've been a better friend to me than I really deserve after dropping all this in your lap." Yuuno smiled. "I'm proud to be your friend, and, if Fate is willing, I'd be proud to call her my friend too." Wary of Nanoha's broken arm, he didn't jump in and hug them, but he did step closer and gently put a hand on each of their shoulders to show his support.

Fate smiled shyly, but genuinely, at both of them.

"Yes, my master."

"Yes sir."

Jumping in surprise at the voices, everyone's attention was drawn to Raising Heart and Bardiche.

"You guys…" murmured Nanoha.

"Thank you," whispered Fate.

Yuuno smiled.

Arf sighed heavily. "Man, this feels so corny. But if even the devices are in on it then I can hardly say no, can I? Somebody has to keep an eye on you brats."

Fate giggled at her attempt to stay aloof, an honest-to-goodness giggle. Infectiously, it spread to the other children. Arf deflated a little. "Why do you guys have to be so cute?" she pouted. Opening her arms, she sighed. "Come on, let's get it over with."

Nobody in the ensuing group hug was fooled.

* * *

><p>Fifteen Jewel Seeds orbited Precia and Alicia, but Precia only had eyes for her daughter. "Soon…" she whispered. "Soon."<p>

_I hope… that it's worth it._

Precia smiled. "Yes. My Alicia… you are worth anything. You are worth everything. And it is time for us to be together again. My sweet, sweet Alicia…"

The Jewel Seeds activated.

Time-space tore apart under from the Lost Logia's power guided by machines controlled by Precia's will for the sake of Alicia-

And light shone out from the cracks in reality. Precia cried out in triumph as the light, the light she knew to be the Light of Al Hazard, engulfed her and her daughter.

* * *

><p>Every alarm in TSAB headquarters started blaring.<p>

* * *

><p>Six Jewel Seeds hung together in the air between Nanoha, Yuuno, Fate, and Arf. The four of them might not yet be friends, but they had decided that they wanted to be. They just had to survive long enough to make it possible.<p>

Whatever else they might be, they were in this together. And in that there was hope.

Yuuno, sensing the Jewel Seeds activating, nodded to Fate, who activated the Jewel Seeds.

* * *

><p>Wishing is the essence of magic. In its simplest form, a spell is a wish. Given energy, given form, given purpose, a miracle results. An analyzable, reproducible miracle, but a miracle all the same. An impossibility given birth by a sentient mind.<p>

And some people wonder why intelligent devices are so useful.

The Jewel Seeds react to wishes. They do not grant them, as such, but their effects are shaped by desires. By hopes. By fears. By dreams. A subconscious wish is as good as a conscious one.

Perhaps the true miracle was that the young mages were sufficiently united in purpose that they actually got what they were looking for.

* * *

><p>Three of them had one hand holding a wire and their other on the Jewel Seeds. Nanoha put one hand on the Jewel Seeds and put a bare foot on her wire, not wanting to risk breaking contact with the wire if she used her broken arm and dropped it out of pain. As the Jewel Seeds activated, light and energy surrounded the four mages. It tingled and it jittered and it <span>hurt<span> but they handled it well, shunting the energy through their linker cores, Bardiche and Raising Heart helping as best they could, and into the machine, which began to glow and hum. For a moment, nothing happened.

And then the sky started moving.

Actually, the atmosphere was unaffected, but the incoming light from the sun found itself twisting and turning and looping around as the fabric of reality tied itself in knots. All over the world, eyes raised skyward in confusion, awe, and fear.

But the mages were too busy to appreciate the sight, because that when the dimensional dislocation reached them. The effect of the shield on the incoming 'wave' of distorted space-time was much like what occurs when an ant attempts to cross a fast-flowing river on a leaf. While it eventually gets to the other side, it ends up far downstream, missing the shore it initially aimed for.

Of course 'much like' is at best a gross overstatement. The sheer scale, the applicable physics, the results… such a statement is like saying that pine cones are 'much like' elephants in that both are carbon-based life-forms on the planet Earth that use DNA as a store of genetic data. While far from useless, the analogy is somewhat lacking. But words created to describe a three-dimensional, magicless world are ill-suited to describing this event. A better comparison might be to Earth's magnetic field protecting the world from the solar wind, but once again, it is fundamentally flawed.

But from their vantage point on the ground, the four mages merely felt the movement of magic and a sense of pressure, and they heard the hum of the machinery become a whine as they upped the output in response, striving to maintain their only defense against an unstoppable force through sheer quantity of mana. And it worked.

And then it didn't.

Ignoring her body's warnings, Nanoha had pushed beyond her limits. But in the end what took her out was something none of them could realistically have suspected. Channeling so much power through her body turned a minor arrhythmia, originating from a depolarization of a small section of heart tissue caused by one of the electrical shocks during her fight with Precia, into full-blown ventricular fibrillation. The symptoms were dismissed as unimportant, especially in light of her other injuries, until Nanoha suddenly realized that the world seemed strangely quiet.

She was unconscious before she could realize that her heart had stopped beating.

It was a horrible situation. If any of the other three went to help her, then that left two mages to do all of the work, and realistically they had been pushing it with only four mages in the first place. But if they didn't help her, then for all they knew she would drop dead. They had no way of knowing whether she had collapsed because of something life-threatening or not. And yet they had to make a decision, and fast.

Fortunately, if Fate had inherited one thing from Precia, it was how to make snap decisions in a crisis. "Arf!" She yelled, jerking her head towards Nanoha. Placing her trust in her companions, Arf scrambled over to Nanoha, desperately trying to ignore the pained sounds from her allies as she worked.

Checking Nanoha's vitals quickly revealed the problem, but Arf hesitated to use the first solution that came to mind. A scream from Fate made her put her doubts aside. Putting her hand on Nanoha's chest, Arf used her magic to electrify the girl's chest, thankful that Nanoha had not reformed her barrier jacket. Trying to find a pulse, Arf cried out in frustration as she failed. Thankfully, a second shock did the trick, and Arf only stayed by the girl's side long enough to feel somewhat secure that she wouldn't die in the immediate future. Nanoha, half-conscious but alive, watched blearily as Arf grabbed a cable and dove back in.

The three of them struggled mightily, knowing that they just had to hold on for a little while longer. But Yuuno and Fate were weakened, and time seemed to stretch out forever before them. Even as the source of the dislocation began to decrease the strength of the distortions it caused, their strength flickered. And seconds (hours? minutes?) later they sensed the terrible result. One of the focusing crystal 'satellites' shattered as the dislocation reached it.

Yuuno cried out in horror, but didn't stop feeding mana to the crippled network. His mind felt like it was imploding, but he forced his thoughts to attain greater speed. With a shrill, pained screech, he reached out and teleported the remaining focus crystals to new location, closer to the Earth, sacrificing hundreds of satellites to form an intact defense around the world. But his work was not done. Unable to modify the focus crystals from where he was, Yuuno physically manipulated the insides of the flower-like machine beside him with his movement magic. Modulating the power output to each crystal, he managed to set up an oblong, deformed shield around the Earth. For a time it held.

Then a second crystal imploded.

Once again, Yuuno strove to adapt. Beside him, Fate and Arf shouldered almost the entirety of the burden of channeling the Jewel Seeds' power, but Yuuno's multitasking abilities only barely pulled him through. Nanoha desperately tried to orient herself, but her memories were jumbled and she didn't know what she needed to do to help. Yuuno succeeded, but six focus crystals could not do the work of eight.

Two more crystals shattered in quick succession, and all of the equipment shut down to prevent the literally catastrophic failure that an unstable network would cause. Some sort of recall function returned the remaining crystals to the side of their power source, but nobody paid attention to the now-useless miracles of engineering.

The four stared skyward. It had almost been enough. Just a few more seconds and… But the defensive shield was visibly dissipating, and they could feel that the dislocation was pushing through, weakened but not weak enough.

"No!" Screamed Arf. "This is not happening! Not after all we've been through! I'm not giving up!" Drinking deep of the Jewel Seeds' power, she threw her free arm towards the heavens. "Round Shield!"

Orange tracings filled the sky as Arf attempted a planetary-scale defense. But alone, unaided, it was an exercise in failure.

But she wasn't alone. Fate's small pale hand, Yuuno's calloused one, even Nanoha's broken arm, splinted through the creative use of binding spells, all of them joined hers.

"**ROUND SHIELD!"**

And the sky was filled with solar fire.

The light of the dislocation splashed upon the shield like water upon a rock. Fueled by the power of the Jewel Seeds, the last desperate defense was made from energy capable of countering the incoming danger. The shield wore down under the onslaught, but it held as long as it needed to. By the time it broke, the danger was almost over, and they knew how to defeat the rest.

Their Round Shield this time was only large enough to protect a city, as that was the size it was when the Jewel Seeds dropped to the ground, completely drained. Linker cores burning, devices badly damaged, they didn't know if they were laughing or crying or screaming as they held back the tide for as long as they could. But they did not despair when their shield faded, powerless. Because when the light engulfed them…

It was nothing more than pressure and light and a dull roar. And in a short time, it faded.

They had won.


	6. Chapter 6: The Other Face of Hope

Chapter 6: The Other Face of Hope

* * *

><p><strong>May 27, 0065<strong>

* * *

><p>As the alarms sounded, Lindy raced through the hallways as fast as she dared, knowing that lives could depend on it.<p>

She prayed that this was a drill.

* * *

><p>The TSAB Headquarters floats in dimensional space like a spiky metallic star. The structure, if flattened out, is easily the size of a city, and for good reason. It houses the vast majority of the administration of the Time-Space Administration Bureau. While the number of people actually living there is not particularly impressive, perhaps thirty thousand permanent residents at any one time, the number of people working there can be in excess of ten million. The scale of the place is ludicrous, and without magic its existence would be a nightmarish drain on TSAB resources.<p>

The TSAB's origins lie back in the time before the new calendar, when Belka was more than a dead civilization for archeologists to research. It was a different age, a time when mass-weapons were the rule rather than the exception. It was not until the time of the three legendary admirals that magic was the standard weapon rather than a supporting tool. It was then, around the time when what might be referred to as 'magitech' was placed at the center of MidChildan society, that things got complicated.

Times had changed, and the TSAB changed with it. Changed, and just as importantly, grew. The TSAB suddenly found itself the big kid on the block, and from its modest origins on MidChilda and a few other planets that had joined early on, the Bureau exploded. The superpowers were gone, and after so much conflict jumping on the band-wagon seemed to be a much better idea than setting up an opposing power bloc and starting it all over again. Of course, trying to resolve the social, economical, political, religious, and bureaucratic problems that followed in the wake of the collapse of the superpowers was no cake-walk, and it all landed squarely on the TSAB's plate.

In the interests of unity, the TSAB's leaders managed to convince the worlds that centralization was the key. The result was the colossal space station of TSAB Headquarters. The main office of the navy, HQ became home to countless offices for navy personnel and enforcers, laboratories, training areas, the Infinity Library, and more.

And every inch of it is used.

The TSAB is the police force, the military, the federal courts, the emergency services, the bureau of transport, the research and development sector, the archives, the park rangers, and more to dozens and dozens of worlds. The closest approximation to this would be if the countries in the United Nations decided to merge their judicial branches, much of their executive branches, some hefty (though limited) legislative powers, the entirety of their armed forces, most of their police, their fire departments, and a good chunk of their economies under one banner.

Not an exact comparison by any means, but it does give a good idea of how much bickering and politics was (and is) involved.

If anything, the TSAB HQ was too small for its job. And much the same could be said about the TSAB's manpower. Dimensional Space is HUGE. Insanely massive. A century ago, the TSAB would have laughed at the thought of overlooking fifty Administered Worlds, but it was closer to 100 at this point. And they had to keep an eye on the Non-Administered Worlds too, and they never had enough mages, let alone enough powerful ones, to get the job done, but they had to do it anyway…

The TSAB High Council and those that followed them made it work. Not work well, but it worked. Things fell by the wayside, interdepartmental bickering gummed up the gears, red tape made simple issues nightmarish, but it worked.

At some point during the construction of HQ, it was decided that since the navy needed a home base, this was where it was going to be, and so the builders added shipyards and so on. But they never thought to build a unified command center. Yet let it not be said that ways were not found around this.

In the event of an emergency situation that affected the HQ itself, all military personnel were to report to their duty stations if possible or their nearest superior if it wasn't. Due to the frequently-changing population of the HQ, the chain of command in such a case was somewhat fuzzy. The solution was that all officers would report in, and command would be taken by whoever was most highly ranked, most senior, most capable, and most charismatic. Or as one of the first admirals to find themselves in charge during one of HQ's dreaded drills infamously muttered, 'the person with the heaviest shoulders and the grayest hair.'

In the end, a chain of command and a steady flow of orders and information is paramount. As such, the crisis on Tuesday May 27, 0065, was first handled briefly by officers assigned to ships docked at the HQ, who used the advanced communications and analysis capabilities of their vessels to make something useful of the data they were gathering. This information was presented to the officer who took control of the situation, one of the three legendary admirals, the Bureau's Chief of Staff…

* * *

><p>"Admiral Crowbel!" Acting-Captain Amy Limietta of the TSAB vessel Arthra snapped a salute and sent a data packet to the granny-like woman whose image had appeared before her. "We are currently attempting to triangulate the source of a large dimensional distortion, Ma'am!"<p>

"Very good." The veteran replied calmly, eyeing the region confirmed to be affected, updated rapidly as ships on patrol and sensor buoys detected the distortion and reported it.

Amy was panicking under her thin veneer of action, and the moment Lindy entered the room she ceded command to her with a palpable sense of relief. Lindy couldn't do much in the current situation, but her presence was reassuring to the bridge crew nonetheless. The admiral took in the available information stoically, proud of her crew but worried.

"Dimensional distortion originates from the region of Non-Administered Planet 97!" A wavy-haired blond officer named Alex called out, and Amy instantly integrated the coordinates he provided into the display.

"No assets in the area, Admiral." A young man spoke up from one of the communication screens. "Closest would be the Wildlife Preservation Corps outpost on Anglos. The nearest vessel is the _Gladia_, two hours distant."

"Can we teleport a strike team in through the distortion?" Admiral Crowbel asked.

"Possibly, but we would need to modify the-"

"Oh no!"

"Distortion approaching threshold! Dislocation is imminent, repeat, dislocation is imminent!"

"Dimensional Transfer into the region is no longer possible-"

"Incoming call from Ground Forces, it's Lieutenant General Gaiz!"

"Dislocation in twenty seconds!"

"What is going on?" Gaiz growled. "Isn't the navy supposed to-"

"-I am ordering the evacuation of these areas," Crowbel announced. "I want-"

"We've lost contact with Anglos-"

"If you don't have something useful to say, then get off the line Lieutenant General!" Lindy snapped.

"Sensor buoy for the region is not responding-"

"I want disaster relief clerks out there as fast as we can get them-"

"Estimate dislocation in ten seconds!"

"You continue scorn us and our work when you can't-" Gaiz snarled.

"Shut down his link, that's an order." Lindy called out, her subordinates complying. "If he wants to complain he can do it when we don't need the bandwidth."

"Supplies are being sent through following clerks-"

"Dislocation confirmed."

The words were quiet. But everyone had been listening for them. For a long moment, the entirety of the network fell silent. Lindy hung her head, and Admiral Crowbel closed her eyes.

"This isn't something we can fight," the elderly woman spoke. "But we can, and we will, minimize casualties. We continue to perform our duties. Coordinate with…"

* * *

><p>Light engulfed everything.<p>

For some it was a moment of awe. For others, horror, as the downward pressure lashed out at them. In most places, not so much as a blade of grass was harmed. In others, gas pipes ruptured, water mains broke, and telephone poles fell. Most humans and animals hit directly were knocked down, which was fortunate as moving with the pressure wave minimized the damage. The majority of human losses were due to indirect dangers, such as falling trees and collapsing ceilings. Though less so than in many prior disasters, some homes were rendered unlivable as roofs and walls were damaged. More than one office building had its glass windows broken. And, of course, there was the magic. It was much weakened and few could sense it and only four could name it, but it was there.

A girl screamed as the roof above her collapsed, unable to move her wheelchair fast enough to escape. As she closed her eyes in fear, she did not hear the snap of a metallic chain giving in to the magic rushing about the atmosphere.

"**Anfangen."**

* * *

><p>In the aftermath of the inexplicable event, a young woman carrying an unconscious child and supporting two other injured and exhausted children, limped into the emergency room of Uminari University Hospital.<p>

* * *

><p>Da-doodah-dee-dah doo-dah…<p>

Da-doodah-dee-dah doo-dah…

Doo-de-dah-daa-dai daa…

De-daa-dah…

Dah… Doo… Duu…

A man in a lab coat scratched his chin, puzzled. No matter how he tested it, there was nothing abnormal about the music. Yet it gave him a feeling of awe, imminent doom, and (of all things!) the color pink. Perhaps if he played it again he would have a breakthrough?

Da-doodah-dee-dah doo-dah…

"Doctor? Are you still listening to that?"

"Uno?" He paused the music. "I said I wasn't to be disturbed, did I not?"

"You have not eaten, drunk, or slept in the past 52 hours, doctor." Uno informed her creator.

The man blinked. He shrugged. "Genius cares not for such mortal restraints."

His stomach rumbled. He glared at it.

Uno smirked internally. "I believe this report might be of interest." Holding up a datapad, she indulged in the flair for the dramatic she had inherited from her father. "It seems that we received a video message from an old colleague of yours shortly before some unimportant planets were destroyed by a dimensional dislocation."

A grin slowly spread across his face. A chuckle worked its way up from within his gut as he came to the obvious conclusion. "So she really did succeed! She committed the greatest of crimes in the eyes of the TSAB, with nothing but her genius and a single artificial mage! Hahahahaha! Oh, Precia, as impressive as ever! Truly, this is a most wonderful event! Those fools will be falling all over themselves in a panic!" Spinning to face a large monitor, he ordered Uno to play the video. "Let us hear what the lady of the hour has to say!"

"Hello, Jail. I hope that you have received word of my success through other channels, or that you soon will." Precia's image looked smug. "There was some small trouble with two rather talented young mages, and the clone sided against me at the very end, but I have what I need. In a few minutes I will journey to Al Hazard, and I will finally be able to save my daughter."

Precia grimaced. "Disturbing as it is, you are the closest thing I have to a friend or ally, so feel free to claim anything of mine that you can. I'm sure you know where to look. I'd send you my notes, but unlike you I have some regard for human life."

"Still so stingy," murmured Jail. "Now I really want to know what breakthroughs you've made."

"The clone is out of my hands, so if it survives you will need to track it down before you can play with it. The same with the other mages I mentioned. If 'Nanoha Takamachi' and 'Yuuno Scrya' survive then I imagine you will have great fun with them." Precia's body language clearly indicated that she didn't approve of Jail's methods, but also that she didn't particularly care. "If I return, I'll be sure to tell you all about Al Hazard." Her lips quirked up mockingly. "Perhaps I'll bring you a present."

The video message ended.

Jail sighed. "So dismissive of my interests." The scientist grinned. "Well, I do believe I have inherited some new property, Uno. Have your sisters go collect it, would you?"

* * *

><p><span>"What happened to this place?"<span>

"Vita, now is not the time." Signum warned her subordinate. "Our mistress is more important than speculation."

"I agree," sent Shamal. "But it is rather unsettling. I do not like this. There is far too much magic around here, and it is not dissipating as it should. We need information."

"Until our mistress awakens, we cannot do anything." Vita and Shamal accepted that, though not happily.

Zafira frowned, the wolf ears on his head twitching. "Signum… we are in an area full of magic. So where are the mages?"

The Wolkenritter turned their attention back to the doctors and nurses around them. They strained their senses to feel through the fog of mana. Not a single person in range of their senses was using magic.

The Belkan Knights moved closer to their mistress. Until they knew otherwise, they would assume the worst. After all, many people had good reason to hate them.

* * *

><p>"I take it that the news is bad, then?" Admiral Graham seemed to have aged a decade or more in the past few hours. His feline familiars, Aria and Lotte, sat on either side of the man, both catgirls clearly feeling emotionally strained. Though less expressive, Lindy did not try to hide her feelings. She had asked to be the one to inform her old friend, as he deserved to hear this from someone he knew, but that didn't make this easy. Looking Graham in the eyes, she spoke simply to the trio across the table from her.<p>

"The dimensional dislocation originated close to Non-Administered Planet 97. While we won't be able to confirm it for some time, we are as certain as we can be… Non-Administered Planet 97, Earth, has been destroyed. I'm sorry."

Lotte let out a strangled sob, while Aria just sat there numbly, looking at her hands clasped before her. Graham, almost lifeless, stared blankly ahead. Lindy sat silently, knowing she could not help him yet, if ever. He had just learned that his homeworld had been destroyed. She couldn't even begin to imagine how that felt.

"Did you know," Graham asked quietly, "that on Earth we have… we had… a fascination with our own destruction? We have been making stories about world-destroying dangers for years and years. There was a time when it was unthinkable, outside of some religious tales. How could such a thing occur? But lacking mages, we relied on science, and it carried us far. Perhaps too far… we found a way to destroy ourselves utterly. Nuclear weapons…" He shook his head sadly.

"We wondered, in the face of our own destruction, how would we act? What would we do? Would we succeed? Would we fail? Would we be courageous and kind and strong and quick-witted? Or would we fall prey to the worst parts of human nature?" Graham spoke more strongly, but there was a bitter tint to his words. "In some stories we fought each other. In others, our writers created aliens and monsters and psychics and mages. Heroes and villains and armies and the eternal struggles between chaos and order, good and evil, war and peace, love and hate… In the stories, someone always tried to fight. There was always a chance, however small, that there would be a happy ending."

Graham sighed. "I've been called a hero, did you know that? I've saved lives, captured criminals, and enforced the peace. But where was I today? I am the only mage from Earth. The only trained combat mage produced by my home in the past fifty years, the only one who could have possibly made a difference. And I wasn't there."

"It isn't your fault." Lindy responded forcefully. "Don't blame yourself for not being in two places at once."

"I didn't have to be the only mage." Graham countered. "It could have been otherwise. Easily even. But in my foolishness…" The elderly man looked back to Lindy. "The only one to blame is the fool or madman who decided to cause this devastation. But beyond that, responsibility falls to me."

"You couldn't have known this would happen, father." Aria tried to reassure her master.

"I made foolish decisions," Graham corrected her. "I could not have predicted this, but I should have considered the possibility that something could happen. And in the end, I should not have made such a gamble. Earth's population topped 7 billion a few years ago." Lindy blanched. "And now my narrow-minded focus on that book has reaped a fell harvest."

Lindy's mind whirled. MidChilda had about 3 billion inhabitants, and it was one of the largest Administered Worlds. Now that she thought about it, the reason was clear. Without magic, colonizing other worlds would be nearly impossible. With magic, nobody would try to cram so many people onto a single planet. But… 7 billion? Could a world even support that many? And with so many people, how could they not have discovered magic? It was inconceivable. But what was he saying?

Seeing the look on Lindy's face, Graham came to a decision. Nobody would ever know if he remained silent, and in fact he had a story ready. He could simply say, truthfully, that since Clyde Harlaown's death he had thrown himself into his work and neglected his home. But now, after this tragedy, he could not stomach living with the guilt of such a secret. It was time to reveal the truth to Lindy. "Let me tell you a story of a girl named, family name first in the fashion of her country, Yagami…"

* * *

><p>"…Hayate is fine." The wheelchair-bound girl insisted. "I don't want to be some unapproachable mistress. And I don't want or need power." She set the ornate book to one side, the strangely light tome clinking slightly as the gold on the cover touched the bedside table of her hospital room. "So we don't need to fill up the Book of Darkness, okay? If you need an order, then try to get along with the hospital staff. They are just looking out for me, and you have to admit, you do look suspicious."<p>

The four knights wore plain black clothing that showed absolutely nothing and yet was clearly abnormal, though not enough so for anyone to be truly offended. The redheaded girl, 'Knight of the Iron Hammer, Vita' was essentially wearing a simple dress, but sized up for the elder women, 'Knight of the Lake, Shamal' and 'Knight of the Sword, Signum', it looked more like an elongated, modified tank-top. 'Beast of the Shield, Zafira' would merely look a bit unusual in his shorts and T-shirt, were it not for his bulging muscles making his clothing practically skintight and the furry ears on the sides of his head. Fortunately, nobody had noticed that they were real.

"Yes… Hayate." Signum answered for the Wolkenritter.

"And, this isn't an order, okay?" Hayate stressed. "But I'd like to request…" the girl fidgeted. "Could we try to be like a family?" She blurted out.

"She seems different. I cannot truly remember, but… she is different from the others."

"Yes, I think you are right."

* * *

><p>"I would spend a few weeks each year on Earth, looking for talented young mages. I would visit places around the world, often orphanages and the like, searching. My efforts were largely unsuccessful, and I never found anyone strong enough to make a magic bullet without harming themselves, let alone activate a device. But several years ago, I met a young girl who had in her possession the Book of Darkness."<p>

"What!" Lindy exclaimed. "I never heard that it had been found again!"

"That is because I kept it a secret." Graham grimaced. "After what happened to your husband during the previous Book of Darkness incident, I wanted to solve the problem permanently. And the method mandated by our laws is no good. A stopgap measure that can never do more than diminish casualties by making hard choices and, ultimately, using Arc-en-ciel. The collateral damage of such bombardment is preferable to the alternative, but with the resurrection funtion…" He sighed. "I saw an opportunity. Hayate had not activated the book, so I stepped in, claiming to be a friend of her father. Hayate was an orphan, so by taking care of her monetarily I kept an eye on her and gave her as happy a life as I could. And I began to plan."

"What was your plan?" Lindy said cautiously.

Gil Graham bit the bullet and told her.

* * *

><p>"Frankly, I haven't the faintest idea what happened to them," a harassed-looking doctor told the Takamachi family. "All of them are exhausted, and we only managed to get names out of 'Arf' Testarossa before the four of them fell asleep." Seeing the looks on the family's faces, the young man chuckled nervously. "We're kind of hoping we misheard the name. Do you know any way we could use to get in touch with Yuuno Scrya's guardians? Or Fate and 'Arf' Testarossa's relatives?"<p>

Shirou shook his head. "I don't have any contact information, sorry."

The doctor sighed. "Well, that can wait until they wake up then. Now, I can't give you any specifics, but the three others should be fine." Kyouya and Shirou caught him glancing at Fate uneasily, but obviously whatever the issue was, it wasn't serious enough for him to break confidentiality.

"Your daughter is banged up, but the worst to expect is some bruising in addition to the broken arm. We haven't put it in a cast yet, as it isn't a bad break but we want to make sure the arm is set properly. Normally we would have already done it, but we're prioritizing the x-ray machines for more urgent cases until tomorrow, possibly later if we get a large influx of patients overnight."

The doctor looked nervously at the family, but thankfully they seemed to be reasonable and didn't blow up on him at the implication that Nanoha wasn't the hospital's number one priority. "We could probably do it late tonight, but we'd rather just wait for her to wake up, if that is okay with you." Seeing the parents nod, he continued. "Does your family have a history of heart disease?"

"No, we're usually quite healthy." Momoko replied.

"Well, your daughter may have had a heart attack, based on what 'Arf' said and the burns on her chest, possibly form a makeshift or faulty defibrillator. She's fine now," he was quick to assure them, "so don't worry. We've got her monitored for now, but at this point her chances of relapse seem to be negligible."

The doctor took a couple more minutes to make sure that the four Takamachis understood Nanoha's condition, and moved on. "Now, one or two of you are welcome to stay through the night if you are quiet and stay out of the way."

"I'll stay." Shirou informed the doctor, lifting a duffel bag. "I have some necessities in here."

"Okay. Under the circumstances we are being lax about visiting hours, but I would suggest that the rest of you get home before dark." The doctor said, and moved on to other patients and relatives.

"I'll trust you two to keep your mother safe, alright?" Shirou instructed. "Don't burn down the house while I'm gone."

"Don't worry, Dad." Kyouya said, Miyuki nodding in agreement. "But don't make it sound like we're running off already. We can stay here for a few more hours before heading home."

* * *

><p>"If we weren't in uniform, you'd be nursing a broken nose." Lindy spoke with deceptive calm. "But while we both know how immoral that plan was, it neither makes you responsible for what happened nor makes you a criminal. At the moment you have broken no laws. And we don't arrest people for considering breaking the law, we arrest them for doing so. For much the same reasons that we protect innocent little girls rather than, say, sealing them in ice for all eternity." Graham flinched, and Aria and Lotte glared at Lindy silently. Lindy's voice softened. "You are not to blame for this tragedy."<p>

"Didn't you think it strange that there was no TSAB presence on Earth?" Graham said quietly.

"Not really," Lindy admitted, confused, but getting a bad feeling. "It is… was… a Non-Administered World. Of course we didn't have a garrison there."

"We normally have at least a few civilian collaborators on each inhabited world, just to keep an ear to the ground. It lets us keep track of which worlds to consider offering membership to, among other things." Graham sighed. "I discouraged placing anyone on Earth, fearing that Hayate would be discovered. As the only member of the TSAB from Earth and as an admiral, my opinion carried great weight. Non-Administered Planet 97 has been considered a nonentity. Boring, useless, nonthreatening, unimportant… there hasn't even been an interest in Earth's culture by sociologists, and believe me when I say that it should have been otherwise.

"I made Earth into a number. Bottom of the heap, lowest priority. I personally ensured that nobody would be there to get in the way when the Book of Darkness activated, and, as it turns out, the same went for dimensional dislocations.

"So, no, I'm not to blame. I didn't pull the trigger. I broke no laws. But I did make sure that nobody would have a chance to save Earth." His mouth twisted upwards in a mockery of a smile. "I do good work, don't I?"

* * *

><p>"She should wake up by noon at the latest, right? We'll be here by mid-morning then." Momoko decided as the Takamachi family prepared to go their separate ways.<p>

Two women, a red-headed girl, a man with animal ears, and a girl in a wheelchair holding a book passed by. Miyuki, Shirou and Kyouya stood in tense silence until they were gone.

"Did you want me to stay with you overnight?" Kyouya offered.

"No, but come over early tomorrow morning after you walk your mother to work. Can't be too careful," Shirou answered calmly.

"We'll bring our bags," Miyuki nodded.

Momoko blinked, unsure what had just happened.

* * *

><p>"You'll tell the higher-ups, you'll cooperate with the investigation, and you will personally explain everything to Chrono." Lindy eventually commanded.<p>

"Of course." Graham nodded.

"Don't resign unless you are forced to." Lindy stood up. "Don't run away from this. You, and the events of today, are all that remains of Earth. When you die, your world will be nothing but a memory of tragedy. You have the responsibility to try to make it otherwise. Make Earth something worth remembering, Gil."

"…Thank you."

"For what?"

Lindy left the room before he responded. Her old friend didn't need anyone to tell him what he did wrong, and he didn't need her to heap unnecessary blame upon him. He was already being punished disproportionately. And as his friend, she was not going to let him sink into despair.

* * *

><p><span>"Fighters, but not mages,"<span> was Shamal's verdict.

"We'll keep an eye on them, but if we do nothing to draw attention to ourselves we should have no problems with the people of this world." Signum stated.

Hayate concentrated. "Don't worry. We're in a hospital! Besides, I think I recognize some of them from somewhere. They run some sort of shop? Something to do with food, I think. Maybe a grocery store? Just relax! Nothing is wrong." She tried to convey a 'smile' telepathically, but it was hard to tell if it worked, so she did it physically as well.

"Hayate, the atmosphere of this world is choked with magical energy, and it would be foolish to assume that it is not related to today's events." Signum explained. "This is almost certainly the result of a terrible accident or, more likely, a devastating battle of some sort. As your guardians, it is our duty to assume the second until proven otherwise."

Hayate considered that. "Then we should find a mage and ask them about it?"

Signum wondered if she had ever been innocent enough to believe that it would be so simple. "It could be dangerous. If I might ask a boon, Hayate?" Signum opened cautiously.

"Of course!" Hayate chirped. "What is it?"

"Once we find a possible source of information, please allow us to take the lead."

"What do you mean?"

"Hayate," Zafira rumbled, "you are a noncombatant. And…" He hesitated.

Vita didn't.

"You're too nice." The prepubescent knight said bluntly. "If they are enemies, we need to take them down, hard and fast."

"…I don't want anyone to be hurt."

"We are your knights, Hayate." Signum stated solemnly.

"If that is your wish, then we will do what we can to make it so." Shamal affirmed.

Hayate was different. They could not remember her predecessors, not with any useful detail, but they knew it to be true. The Wolkenritter destroyed their enemies. They were not created with the intent to 'not hurt anyone'. But they would do their best to fulfill their mistress's wish.

* * *

><p>"Chrono. Amy." Lindy quietly called out. The two turned to her from where they were sitting on the couch, exhausted by hours of nonstop work.<p>

"Sorry, ma'am," Amy stumbled over her words. "I know I shouldn't be in your quarters-"

"Don't worry about it." Lindy reassured her. "My son understands boundaries and I'm willing to trust you two to use your common sense. I'm not going to leap to conclusions and bite your heads off."

The two teenagers were simultaneously embarrassed and relieved, and not entirely sure of what they were worried about in the first place. Ah, youth, Lindy smiled to herself, and gave the two of them a couple years at most before they realized that they wanted to be more than friends, probably sooner for Amy. Then they would start dancing around the issue… or maybe not. She might be his mother, but that didn't mean she knew everything about her son's mind (though she encouraged him to think otherwise). Sometimes he surprised her.

"This has been hard on everyone, and tomorrow will be a long day. Get to bed early, alright?"

Leaving the teenagers behind in the small living room that she shared with her son, Lindy entered her bedroom and sat down at her desk, her thoughts on more serious matters.

She was not looking forward to writing this report.

* * *

><p>"Tomorrow we need to get you guys more clothes on our way back to the house," Hayate decided, looking critically at the black clothes her new family was wearing.<p>

There was an awkward silence.

Hayate followed the gazes of Signum, Shamal, and Zafira, wondering why they were staring at Vita.

Vita flushed and, looking exactly like a little kid who had knocked over grandma's antique vase, tried to break the news gently. "I, uh, might have gone a little overboard with Graf Eisen when I saved you from being crushed…"

* * *

><p>Kyouya, Miyuki, and Momoko stopped to stare at the house. Other buildings had had varying degrees of damage, but this one took the cake. An entire side of the house had been blasted outwards, and much of the roof had vanished to parts unknown.<p>

* * *

><p>Vita pointedly ignored the four used cartridges Shamal was fingering.<p>

"Sorry?"

Hayate stared blankly at Vita, trying to rationalize what she was hearing. Forcibly suppressing the urge to bury her face in her hands and cry, she smiled at Vita. "No worries. My uncle, well a friend of my father's really, has an emergency fund set up for me. Besides, I'd rather have you guys and a wrecked house than a mostly intact house and a chained up book."

Vita stared disbelievingly at her, then threw herself at Hayate, sobbing. Completely bewildered, Hayate did her best to calm the youthful knight down. Looking to her other knights for help, she was surprised to see Shamal wipe away a tear, Zafira smile, and Signum nod approvingly. Deciding to simply go with the flow, Hayate hugged Vita close.

Eventually getting her emotions under control, Vita made excuses to escape the room, Shamal following her. Zafira exchanged a glance with Signum before going to get food for everyone.

"Thank you." Signum said quietly.

"For what? I don't understand."

"For being yourself."

Hayate decided not to question further, and spent the time until the others came back deep in thought as she considered what to do next. She wanted her knights to be happy. She had a chance to have a family. She was… content… as she was, that was a good way to put it. But… a family. She could be part of a family. Was she being too possessive? Was she going about this the right way? She seemed to be doing something good, but was it the right something?

She knew, instinctively, that the Wolkenritter, especially Signum, would do anything she told them to do. She didn't want to use them like that though. She didn't want to 'play house' with them, she wanted more than that. But the selfishness of her approach to this felt wrong. She was thinking only about herself, even when she thought about them. But she honestly wanted them to be happy, Hayate felt mostly certain of that. Just because she had a selfish reason for her actions didn't mean that she only had selfish reasons for her actions, right?

She didn't know what to feel about the whole situation. They had offered to kill for her… No, they had expected to kill for her. She was weak, helpless. She couldn't imagine that that was normal for them. They were so much more powerful than her, it would be easy for them to just… lock her away or something. They couldn't kill her, but unless she used the book on them (she shuddered at the thought) they could easily take control of the situation, and it would be easy to stop her from doing that. They could just take the book and leave, and Hayate couldn't stop them. But they were still here.

So they had to see something in her, didn't they? Unless… What if they couldn't leave? They were people, but they were also programs. Artificial intelligences given form by magic. What if they were forbidden from not following her or something? What if she was nothing more than their mistress?

Hayate watched Signum out of the corner of her eye. The pink-haired woman leaned against the wall, seemingly relaxed, but Hayate wasn't sure that it was even possible for her to let her guard down. Signum was so strong, so confident, so capable. If she were unwillingly chained to Hayate, then it would be so completely and utterly wrong. Hayate was tempted, strongly tempted, to make Signum tell her the truth about her worries. All she had to do was ask, and Signum would tell her everything she needed to know. But what if it really was like that?

In the end, Hayate was too afraid to ask.

'I'll just have to make them happy.' Hayate told herself. 'Even if they don't want to be with me, if I'm their mistress, then they are my responsibility, so I have to look after them. I'll give them a home. I'll give them as much freedom as I possibly can. I'll give them clothes and food and they won't have to fill up the Book of Darkness. And then, they can be happy, right? Even if I can't make them happy, I can let them find what makes them happy. And if they don't want to be my family, then, then I'll just be quiet and stay out of the way, and I'd still get to spend some time around them… That would be good enough, right?'

Hayate spent the rest of the evening getting to know the Wokenritter, her thoughts on her new goal. By the time she drifted off to sleep, sharing the bed with Vita, she felt a little less worried. They didn't seem unhappy, at least, and they were more open, more expressive, than when she had first met them, if only by a little bit. So maybe there was hope, after all.

Her sleep was restful, and her dreams were full of hope for the future.

* * *

><p><strong>May 28, 0065<strong>

* * *

><p>As morning sunlight shone on her face, Nanoha awoke to a nightmare. The antiseptic twinge to the air, the distant beeping of heart monitors, the murmur of doctors and nurses and patients… Nanoha found herself reliving that time when her father was confined to a hospital bed. Fear filled her, and she stretched out towards her magic, noting with horror how little mana she had available, calling out Raging Heart, Yuuno, Fate, Arf, <span>anyone<span>…

There was no response.

Stumbling out of her bed, she blindly fled, the only thought in her mind that she had to get out of here.

Her father, who had been dozing at her bedside, was completely stupefied, but followed as fast as he could.

* * *

><p>"There may be a mage here." Shamal murmured in Signum's ear. "I think I felt a wide cast telepathic call, but it was very weak."<p>

"If it happens again, can you pinpoint it?" Signum asked quietly.

"If I have Klarer Wind active, yes."

Signum glanced at Hayate, still asleep on the hospital bed. "Do so. Take Vita and look around, see if you can find them. Use a search spell if you think it wise, I'll trust your judgment. If you find any mages, approach them peacefully with Vita as your backup. If hostilities start, put up a barrier and I'll come support you."

* * *

><p>Bursting out onto the roof of the hospital, Nanoha slowed to a stop, the fresh air and gentle breeze helping to clear her head. Turning towards the bay, Nanoha began to calm down. She sighed with relief, her worries momentarily forgotten at the sight of the city stretched out before her. They had done it. The city was fine, the world was saved, things were going to turn out alright.<p>

Realizing that she should go back inside before she made people worry, she turned around to head back. However, what she saw made her rush to the other edge of the roof. Her face turned ashen, and she hugged herself with her unbroken arm in an attempt to suppress her shudders. As she stared inland, she could clearly see her failure.

The mountains were gone.

* * *

><p>"Wait."<p>

Vita turned to face Shamal, the blond having stopped beside an open door.

"What is it?"

Klarer Wind, now in the form of two jeweled pendulums, twinkled as the Knight of the Lake performed a scan to confirm her instincts.

"There are mages in this room."

* * *

><p>Her hands unconsciously went to her necklace, and she flinched upon feeling a crack on the side of the small red orb. "Raising Heart…" She sniffled. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"<p>

There was no response. The device, damaged from channeling so much magic, remained dark and lifeless.

* * *

><p>Hayate blearily rubbed sleep from her eyes as Zafira and Signum wheeled her off towards breakfast, which was being provided to everyone at the hospital. Some kind of agreement with some companies for situations like this, probably. Uminari wasn't as badly off as a disaster area usually was, but there were a lot more people around the hospital than normal, and Hayate doubted that there was normally enough food for this many people lying around. Now that she thought about it, the university probably handled it, this being Uminari <span>University<span> Hospital.

She wasn't sure about how she felt about what Shamal and Vita were doing. She was worried for them, worried about any other mages they might find, and after what had happened to her house she was a little worried about the hospital itself. But she was glad that Signum had taken her at her word and handled it without double-checking it with her. After watching them walk on eggshells around her yesterday, Hayate considered this a small victory.

To be honest, she felt that she probably should be more concerned that magical knights under her control were taking the initiative and possibly starting a fight in the hospital, but it wasn't as if she had the faintest idea about how fighting worked. Signum's tactical prowess was much more trustworthy than her own. If the knight felt that she had taken suitable precautions, then Hayate was satisfied.

* * *

><p>"So these guys are mages?" Vita asked, eyeing the room's occupants. "Do you think they were involved in this? I mean, they're kind of young."<p>

Shamal very carefully did not mention that Vita looked younger than either of the children. "The Guardian Beast's Linker Core is unusually active," she muttered. Speaking up, she answered Vita. "I believe the girl is the master." Stepping away from Arf, she moved to Fate's bedside. "To maintain a powerful Guardian Beast at such a young age, she must be a prodigy, at least in terms of mana capacity. And prodigies are… useful."

Vita gave Shamal a dry look. She was quite aware of how child-mages were quite popular recruits and tools for nearly anyone. Criminals, authorities, armies… Powerful, easy to control, and (if they survived) the next generation of the elite, kids like this one were wonderful resources. Not only could they be indoctrinated easily, they were also useful from day one, and only became more powerful with time. It wasn't very nice, but it was an unfortunate truth of life that magical prodigies were often snapped up young and never let go.

In other words, if the three sleeping magic-users weren't involved in this then they were very lucky indeed.

Vita didn't put much faith in luck.

* * *

><p>"You can be fixed, right?" Nanoha pleaded. "Like before… but you need magic and I don't have enough right now… No." Her voice hardened, and she stood up. "I have enough. I have to. This has to work."<p>

Taking off her necklace, Nanoha held the red jewel tightly over her heart. "This is just like the first time we met. I say the magic words, give you magic, and you activate, right?" Vague memories of the long incantation she had recited floated to the forefront of her mind. "Like back then. Yuuno always did say that arias helped…" She took a deep breath. "I am the one who…"

But it wasn't right. There was nobody to fight. No mission. And it had to be right, or it wasn't good, and the aria wouldn't help her channel her power. "No mission this time. No contract either. But…" She closed her eyes and focused her power, searching for words.

A standard MidChildan circle formed beneath her feet. Concentric circles and squares, rotating slowly, with circles containing Greek letters attached to the four corners of one of the squares. Pi. Delta. Omega. Nu. Rotating and overlapping between the concentric rings were visual representations of her calculations of her own power, her device's needs, her intent, and the desired results. Meaningless in and of itself, the circle's importance laid in Nanoha's interpretation of it. It was simply a sign of her thought process as she collected magic from her linker core for use.

"The wind is in the sky…"

The pink glow of her magic shone out from between her fingers.

"And the stars are in the heavens…"

The light intensified, the circle speeding up its rotations. A thrill raced down Nanoha's spine, and she knew what to say.

"And a resolute heart beats within my chest!"

Her voice rising to a shout, she pushed one last burst of mana into her device, the pattern of her words and her circle resonating with the crystal matrix of the jewel. Her energy drained, Nanoha quietly continued to speak. "So, Raising Heart, please…"

Please be well. Please accept me. Please…

Please respond…

Please…

...

...

"StaNdby, rEAdy."

"Raising Heart!" Nanoha exclaimed, opening her hand to see a scuffed but intact glowing gem. "Oh thank goodness, I was so worried! Nobody was responding and you were broken and- and the mountains and I was all alone and…" Tears of relief and joy streamed down her face as she opened her heart to her device.

"YoU are nEver aloNe." Raising Heart spoke insistently as her voice stabilized. "You are my master. Even if we are parted, my heart would live in yours and yours in mine."

"The gem lady is right," Shirou spoke from behind her, causing Nanoha to spin around fearfully, but there was nothing but acceptance and reassurance and love on her father's face. "Your new friends are down below, Miyuki and Kyouya will be here any time now, and your mother should be here by lunch time. And we all love you, even when you drive us crazy with worry."

Nanoha stared at him, sniffling. He smiled, and hugged her until she restored her emotional equilibrium, not judging her in the slightest.

"Let's go downstairs and wait for your friends to wake up, shall we?"

* * *

><p>"Vita, there is a magical reaction from the roof."<p>

"On it."

The little knight walked off towards the elevators.

* * *

><p>Hayate fingered the Book of Darkness nervously as Signum walked away in the direction of Shamal and the mages they had found. She could hear their telepathic messages, and they certainly seemed confident, but she still worried.<p>

Zafira took note of Kyouya and Miyuki walking past and mentioned it to Signum, but as dangers went the two of them were near the bottom of the list. Even without their full knight armor, which Hayate had yet to have a chance to design for them, their basic barrier jackets and their devices put them on an entirely different level than normal humans. And physical damage was only an inconvenience at most, given their nature. Still, better safe than sorry.

* * *

><p><span>"There's nobody here."<span> Vita called out from the roof a short time later. "They either left or went inside."

"Shamal, leave for now." Signum thought as she sped up just a little, though not enough to draw attention. "Wait for Vita and I to track-"

"Too late." Shamal sent grimly.

* * *

><p>"What are you doing to Yuuno?" Nanoha demanded of the woman, pointing Raising Heart's Shooting Mode at her. "Who are you?"<p>

"I'm just helping out." Shamal said calmly, not offering too much information. The girl was a possible enemy, after all. Still, best to put her fear to rest. "This is a diagnostic spell." She added somewhat belatedly.

"Unless I'm quite mistaken, magic is rather rare around here." Shirou retorted.

"Please, tell me why you're here!" Nanoha insisted, doing her best not to draw attention to her broken arm and her almost empty reserves of magic. If the woman decided to fight, Nanoha wasn't sure she had enough for a magic bullet, let alone a Divine Buster.

Before Shamal could answer, Vita burst through the window and did what, under most circumstances, would be considered a beautifully performed rescue of her ally. One moment, Nanoha was holding Shamal at staff-point, the next, Nanoha was flying back out of the door courtesy of Graf Eisen, with her unarmed father racing over to her side as she fell unconscious.

Even as hospital staff rushed to the scene, a barrier whisked the combatants away.

* * *

><p>By the time Nanoha recovered enough from the knockout blow to be functional, the battle was well underway. Arf had tackled the first woman out of the window and was fighting with her one-on-one, leaving the girl who had attacked Nanoha and a second woman to fight Yuuno, Miyuki, Fate and Kyouya, Nanoha's siblings wielding their swords. At one point or another the fight had left the hospital room and moved outside the hospital, which was good for Nanoha, but bad for those incapable of air-to-air combat.<p>

'Fighting' was perhaps an overly generous term for 'admirably surviving in the face of an overwhelming force.' Yuuno and Fate had more mana left than Nanoha, but not nearly enough to fight back effectively. Worse, Yuuno seemed to be in pain every time he cast a spell. Kyouya and Miyuki were vastly underpowered, unarmored, inexperienced, confused, and worst of all unable to fly, which meant that they were nearly useless against their current opponents.

Nanoha was nearly out of mana, injured, and having trouble focusing. Raising Heart was active, but not fully repaired. And there was much more mana in the air then the two of them were prepared for. So it was understandable that Nanoha's first attempt at casting Starlight Breaker literally exploded only seconds into charging with the force of a small firework. Strangely enough, it brought a gleam to her eyes.

* * *

><p>"Please, this is just a misunderstanding!" Shamal begged as she blocked Arf's assault with a shield. "If you would just surrender-"<p>

"Oh, sure!" Arf snarled. "I suppose it's just pure coincidence that you snuck up on us while we were asleep, hammered Nanoha unconscious, and trapped us in a barrier. I bet you're really a nice person! Are you even listening to yourself? Of course I'm not going to surrender!"

"Just hold on, Fate. I'll take her out and come back you up!"

* * *

><p><span>"We'll do our best."<span>

Fate panted heavily, leaning against a wall that provided a small amount of protection. Miyuki rolled into cover next to her, metal balls coated in red energy cratering the street behind her.

"I don't think we've been introduced," the older girl panted. "I'm Miyuki Takamachi, Nanoha's sister."

"I'm Fate Testarossa, and this is my device, Bardiche."

"So, how does she do that?" Miyuki gestured to Signum, who was fighting Yuuno in the air.

"You mean, how does she fly?" Fate asked uncertainly.

"No, how does she get so much power behind her attacks! I can practically see the shockwaves!" Fate stared blankly at her. "Although, now that you mention it- Incoming!"

"Defenser."

The yellow barrier held up to Vita's attack for a few seconds, then shattered under the force of the knight's hammer. Miyuki valiantly stepped in front of her young ally, but was thankfully saved by a well-timed shoulder-charge by Kyouya, which pushed Vita far enough to the side that her swing slammed into the wall rather than the teenager's ribcage.

"Don't take their attacks head-on!" Kyouya instructed.

Vita was happy to, all too literally, hammer the lesson home.

* * *

><p>"Why are you attacking us?" Yuuno cried out desperately, on the verge of collapsing from pain. He was using a healing spell on himself, but he had a nasty feeling that his linker core was the problem and he didn't know a good way to fix that, so he concentrated on keeping himself conscious and mobile. As using magic was the cause of his pain all he was doing was buying time in a vicious cycle, but Yuuno healthy fear of his opponent's sword was a great motivator.<p>

"We require information about yesterday's events," Signum responded, her device, Laevatein, crashing against Yuuno's shield.

Yuuno stared blankly at her. He twitched, a suppressed well of emotions bubbling within him. "And why, out of all of the possible ways of doing this, did you decide to try to kill us rather than ASKING POLITELY?"

Signum disengaged for a moment. "That was the original plan." She fed a small metallic object into her sword, which vented steam and spat something out. "But now that you have seen us in combat we cannot allow you to leave with such information. Surrender and you will not be harmed."

Yuuno's mouth opened and closed repeatedly, but no words came out. Eventually he shook his head. "If I give up, my friends will have to fight you. I can't let that happen."

"Very well. Shiden Issen."

A vortex of fire erupted from the pink-haired swordswoman's device, leaving her with a sword covered in flames, which Yuuno automatically analyzed the strength of. Wow, comparing the amount of magic in the attack to what he had left in his body gave a ratio of… how many orders of magnitude? This was going to be fun. He'd always wanted to get his face burnt off.

Worst. Morning. Ever.

"For what it is worth, I can respect your determination." Signum calmly informed her opponent.

Yuuno looked skyward, being too emotionally drained to feel more than resignation. 'Whoever is up there? I concede. I'm not particularly religious, but I now feel certain that not only do you exist, you also hate me.'

Moments later, his unconscious body hit the ground. Signum was actually impressed. His shield had withstood her until he had run out of strength. After making sure Yuuno was alive and mostly unharmed, but out of the fight (she was pleased to feel her mistress's relief at the news) she flew off to join Shamal.

* * *

><p>From her vantage point in the wrecked hospital room, Nanoha shuddered. Arf wouldn't last long against both enemies, so she had to hurry, but it was so hard to focus at the moment… She had never really experienced the effects of using up so much of her magic before, as she had always needed to save enough strength to fight due to the situation she and Yuuno were in. Physically, she was healthy enough (though battered) but magically she was one step above comatose. She needed to fight her instincts to do magic, as she was continually reminded that no, she really didn't have enough magic for this.<p>

Compounding this problem was a little voice that sounded like Yuuno that brought up the importance of listening to her instincts while doing magic, as ignoring them was a good way to get seriously hurt. Of course, Raising Heart would be helping, and it wasn't as if she was going to overexert herself (she hoped). But Raising Heart could only help so much, especially with this. Nanoha was improvising, and since she wasn't using a spell that Raising Heart had the parameters for, the device could only support her and help her target. Unless she had fifteen minutes to do some quick programming… a quick glance outside dashed that hope.

"Suggest use of aria, master."

Why hadn't she thought of that? It would only help so much, but every bit counted. Thank goodness for Raising Heart! But what could she use? It had to be fitting, or it wouldn't be a good trigger. There wasn't a single 'ideal aria' for a given spell, so it didn't have to be perfect, just appropriate…

"Mana collect, no, uh, magic collect, no, compress, no… gather! Um… Um…" Nanoha winced as Arf was sent crashing to the ground and the three enemy mages congregated above Nanoha's allies. "Gather mana? Gather shiny- no, that's stupid." Nanoha gradually became more and more panicked as her friends were dominated by their opponents. What she wouldn't give to give them a Starlight Breaker to the fa- of course!

"Gather, starlight! No," she shook her head. "Gather, light of the stars!"

* * *

><p>It happened quickly. One moment, there was nothing, then a girl yelled something and the air was full of little flying pink specks of light. Soon, the three members of the Wolkenritter were surrounded by fist-sized balls of magic, which they eyed warily.<p>

"Please don't try anything!" The voice cried out again, and they turned to see Nanoha leaning heavily on a wall at the edge of the destroyed hospital room the fight had started in. "They're made of compressed magic! If you upset them, they'll explode!"

"Do you really think we'll give up that easily?" Vita called back scornfully.

"Please, can't we just-" Nanoha's words were cut off by an explosion which enveloped all three knights. Below, Arf, Fate, Kyouya, and Miyuki watched nervously, looking up at the blast. When it cleared, the three knights still stood, intact though somewhat singed.

"I will give you one final chance to surrender." Signum said simply.

"That's funny," Shirou said coldly. "I was about to say the same thing. How about we all calm down and discuss our issues in a civilized fashion?"

His sword, held to an unconscious Hayate's neck, made it clear that this wasn't a question.

* * *

><p>It took the longest, most awkward hour of their lives for them to escape the worried doctors and nurses. It would have taken longer, but the Takamachi patriarch's ability to charm, misdirect, and flat-out lie to the medical staff pulled them through. Which 'merely' left them with an hour of nervousness (Fate and Nanoha), hostility (Arf and the Wolkenritter), confusion (Shirou, Miyuki, and Kyouya), and bringing their unconscious companions up to speed on their stories before they got caught in a lie (Yuuno and Hayate).<p>

After everyone had been patched up and Nanoha had a cast put on her arm (Hayate was both relieved to hear that it wasn't Vita who was responsible and horrified to learn that she had had the injury the whole time), the twelve of them were very grudgingly allowed to leave the hospital (for now; obviously Nanoha and Hayate would be returning in the future).

In short order, they had removed themselves to a nearby park, doing their best to act like acquaintances rather than a group of people that was only restraining themselves from fighting because (1) the Wolkenritter could and would slaughter everyone else if a fight started, (2) everybody wanted to know what happened the previous day and dead people usually can't talk, (3) Arf wasn't going to attack without a good excuse and an opening, and (4) Hayate begged the Wolkenritter to not go on a murderous rampage (which, incidentally, had made things even more awkward, as none of the knights had any idea how to react to their mistress pleading with them to spare Shirou's life).

And thus Nanoha, Yuuno, Fate, and Arf found themselves the center of attention.

"Well…" Yuuno looked around uncertainly. "I guess the story starts a couple months back. Well, a lot longer than that for Fate, but we can get to that later. My name is Yuuno Scrya, and I am a mage from a world called MidChilda. Like most of my family, I'm a scholar, specifically an archeologist, and I became involved in everything when my expedition unearthed 21 magical artifacts that we named 'Jewel Seeds'…"

The story took a long time, largely because the Japanese needed a lot of explanations. "Wait, aren't you a bit young to be running an archeological expedition?" was but the first of many questions, being swiftly accompanied by "You're an alien?" and after the first twenty minutes the Wolkenritter **suggested** (politely, as Hayate was listening) that questions about magic be dealt with later (i.e. after the story was finished).

Other problems were the… touchier subjects. Not so much Precia herself, though Fate didn't talk more than necessary about her mother. However, as the other three were not going to bring up her scars without checking to see if Fate was alright for them to mention it, that particular revelation was glossed over (Vita, showing that she knew what tact was, she just applied it sparingly, did not press for details). Then there were some things that they were all extremely uncomfortable to talk about, but could not avoid:

"_It was a little while later that I first met Fate. Yuuno and I were at Suzuka's house when a kitten activated a Jewel Seed and…" Nanoha hesitated._

"_I put a barrier up and…"Yuuno tried to pick up where she left off, but didn't get much further._

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…_And?" Zafira prompted._

"…_I attacked them and *mumblemumblemumble*" Fate's face turned red and she stared down at her feet._

"…_Did you just say that you electrocuted a kitten?" Miyuki had, unfortunately, heard correctly._

"_It was the size of an elephant! Give her a break!" Arf demanded._

"_The kitty was fine," Nanoha told them. "Magic lightning isn't as dangerous as non-magic lightning if the mage is careful. I had a hard time explaining to Suzuka why its hair was all standing on end though."_

The general reaction to their story was fairly predictable, though Signum and Zafira were as opaque about their thoughts as Vita was vocal. Beyond Vita's opinion of their plans, which might be expressed in more polite terms as 'less than flattering,' (strangely, Shamal was struck with a number of fits of coughing at that point, and Zafira looked vaguely amused) the audience was kind enough to be encouraging or at least neutral in their reactions.

Much to the shapeshifter's relief, Shirou forgave Yuuno for sleeping in Nanoha's room, although he also managed to convey the message that any such incidents in that occurred in the future were to remain just as innocent… or else. Fate and Arf were also forgiven, Miyuki helping to lighten the tone by claiming some nonsensical rules of friendship involving 'beam weaponry' and 'proving the validity of one's belief system' (Kyouya made sure to explain to Fate that it didn't work like that, but she was indeed forgiven).

One of the more daunting challenges for the quartet was narrating the events that had hurt Nanoha, as not only was it frightening to Nanoha's family to hear just how close it had been, it was also an unwelcome reminder of just how close that not only they but the entire planet had come to death. If anything, it was worse to recall than to live through, as there was no adrenalin rush or imminent danger to distract them this time around.

For Hayate, it was an emotional experience, and she found that she was both sympathetic and, surprisingly, envious of them. The four mages were obviously not yet fully comfortable with each other, but there was an unconscious trust similar to the Wolkenritter's, and Hayate wished that she could experience that.

The Wolkenritter, being more emotionally removed from the situation but also more experienced, analyzed first and empathized second, though how they showed this to the others varied. For the knights, this was an important intelligence gathering event, and they paid attention to everything, only allowing themselves to stop considering the mages as enemies after careful consideration and telepathic conferencing.

Of course, that wasn't the same as being friends. And they kept an eye on Nanoha's father.

"…and then Vita broke through the window, and you all know the rest." Nanoha finished.

Shirou quietly slipped off to one side, Signum following him. The conversation continued, but with the more serious issues put aside in favor of lighter anecdotes. Hayate was laughing at something Arf was saying when Shirou spoke.

"Will you protect this world?"

"We will protect Hayate." Signum answered. "…How did you do it?"

Shirou stared at Hayate, not really seeing her. Ghosts of memories swam before him. "I was a bodyguard. Most people ignored you, and those who didn't just noticed that you were dangerous, but I saw four bodyguards and their principle. Then you hurt my daughter, threatened my family. Hayate was your weakest point."

"Then, why?"

_Shirou removed the blade from Hayate's neck as the combatants approached him._

"Why not? It worked out in the end."

_He set down his sword and handed the girl to an angry Zafira._

'You had us,' Signum thought. 'You had us. And you just… We could have turned around and killed you and your family after you gave her back. How did you know we wouldn't?'

Shirou handed her a piece of paper with a string of numbers on it. "Call me later, when the time comes. The four of you will need to learn to handle it in your own way, but that doesn't mean I can't give you advice."

"I don't understand what you're talking about." Signum responded honestly.

Shirou gave her a look of sympathy and pity.

"You will."

And with that he walked back to the others, and left Signum to her thoughts.

* * *

><p>Now what?<p>

That was the question that needled Fate. Everything was more or less over. Hayate and Nanoha were exchanging cell phone numbers, Miyuki was teasing Yuuno, the Wolkenritter and Arf were glaring at each other again, and Kyouya was talking with his father. Mother had what she wanted, Earth was saved, the Wolkenritter hopefully would not attack again, and Nanoha was alive. And Fate had the rest of her life to spend with Arf and figure out what she wanted to do, who she wanted to be…

But she didn't know what to do NOW. At some point, she should go by the apartment complex she had been using, retrieve her belongings and take down the barrier. But then what? She would have to have another living space ready first, and she would need to make sure she had enough funds. And Arf would have to pretend to be her guardian if she wanted everything to work legally. But where to begin? Regretfully, Fate admitted to herself that she and Arf would likely be continuing to use their current living space for at least a few weeks, which was unfortunate. She had hoped to stop cheating the building owner, but at this point a few more weeks would make no difference to him (he had never known she was living inside a 'barrier copy' of the building in the first place) the extra time could make a large difference to herself and Arf.

"Fate, are you coming?"

Nanoha's voice broke Fate out of her thoughts. Looking around, she saw that Hayate and her companions were already on their way to wherever they were staying, Arf watching them go. Yuuno, Nanoha, and Nanoha's family stood waiting.

Not understanding, Fate looked at Nanoha in confusion as Arf trotted over to her master's side. "Coming?"

"'My door is always open to you,' remember?" Nanoha smiled. "The Garden of Time was your home, and you can't live there anymore, right? The two of you are welcome to come and stay with us if you want."

Fate blinked. She hadn't been expecting that. It felt… nice. But while Nanoha's offer was very kind, Fate didn't want to be any more of a burden to her and her family. Fate opened her mouth to thank her but refuse, but as she did so she looked at the others. Rather than talking amongst themselves or waiting impatiently for an answer, Shirou, Miyuki, Kyouya, and Yuuno stood there calmly. Yuuno looked hopeful, Kyouya and Miyuki smiled kindly, and Shirou gave her an understanding nod. Nanoha exuded joy and kindness and acceptance and friendliness and love, and Fate knew that if she said yes, then they really would take her in.

Fate tore her eyes away. She couldn't tarnish that. She was different, she didn't belong there. Maybe one day, but not yet. Not now. She didn't have the right.

"Whatever you choose, I'm with you all the way." Arf said encouragingly.

Oh, Arf. You really are too good for me. I don't deserve you.

_It isn't really my place to say this, but…__Arf loves__ you. You don't have to earn her loyalty__; it's a gift from her to you. __Whether or not you feel you are worthy is unimportant as far as she's concerned. Just follow your heart and try your best, and be honest about your feelings._

Fate looked at Arf, then to Nanoha. Fumbling a bit, Fate grasped Arf's hand, and opened the empathic link between familiar and master further than normal. Her concerns couldn't be expressed fully in words, so Fate opened her heart and showed Arf her feelings, her fear and her doubt and her hope and her joy, and was shown Arf's feelings in exchange. The two of them were in this together, they weren't alone. And they would make this choice together, for better or for worse.

Fate's misgivings didn't disappear. Both options had risks. Both had opportunities. There was no right or wrong answer. It didn't make decision easier or harder. But that was fine.

Arf and Fate exchanged looks. And they stepped forward towards the future, choosing the path that, now that they stood on it, seemed inevitable.

"Yes." "Yes."

Nanoha smiled brilliantly, and took a hold of Fate's free hand.

"Let's go home."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

**Yes, I am evil. This chapter's theme was mood contrast, in some cases verging on mood whiplash. Today's chapter title is from the following quote: "I will not say 'Do not fear.' Fear is the other face of hope." If you know where the quote is from you get a cookie. If you have no clue what the quote means, come talk to me and I'll explain. Or you could google it.**

**So, goodbye season one, hello A's!**

**What on Earth am I doing, you ask? This all seems so pointless, and what is up with the Wolkenritter? Why are they so out of character and inconsistent and what's with Hayate and her issues? And arias, really?**

**The answer, dear readers, is simple: this is Hayate and the Wolkenritter 6 MONTHS EARLY! In canon, the Book of Darkness activates on Hayate's ninth birthday, June 4, 0065. (If you want to quibble, it starts glowing ominously at midnight between June 3 and June 4, and is fully activated 30 seconds later). The first encounter between Vita and Nanoha occurs on December 1. I arbitrarily decided that May 27 was the day that this chapter starts on, so everything is slid up by about a week, and then shoved off the tracks.**

**Before I go any further, I will make a point of saying that the timeline of the first season is rather vague, occurring in the rather general time frame of 'spring to summer of 0065'. I could probably narrow it down more, but it would still be 'give or take a month or two' levels of fuzzy and May 27 works for this chapter and moreover *googles*: **

**Fun fact: the Battle of Tsushima started on May 27 and ended on May 28, 1905. It was a naval battle between the Russians and the Japanese, with Japan victorious. It was the only battle to feature fleets of modern steel battleships (later fleets would favor ships with bigger guns and larger ranges of attack), the first naval battle to feature major use of the wireless telegraph, and the last time that a defeated fleet of ships surrendered to another fleet on the high seas. It was one of the most significant naval battles in history, as the lessons learned would become doctrine until aircraft carriers changed the nature of naval battle again.**

**I will pretend that I knew that beforehand, and chose it on purpose.**

**But back to what I was saying: **

**So rather than the Wolkenritter hyped up on fanatic devotion to Hayate after the best 6 months of their existence, we get four magic knights dropped into a disaster zone who have no idea what the heck is going on and have good reason to be paranoid. And rather than a Hayate who is sad about how her family isn't around as much as normal, we get a Hayate who is struggling with the issues that she had mostly (but not completely) resolved off-screen by A's…**

**Any part of the resulting conflict that resembles canon is a red herring. This is completely different emotionally, physically, and mentally. Except, as always, for any parts that are the same. Sorry, that isn't helpful, but that doesn't make it any less true.**

**As for Nanoha and her chanting, it is first and foremost a spell-casting aide. It helps boost a spell's power and efficiency. She knew what she was doing up on the roof, and to be honest she could have waited a couple days for Raising Heart to fix itself, but she was feeling desperate. Illogical, yes, but emotions tend to do that to people. Anyway, that worked. **

**On the other hand, she was completely making it up as she went along when she tried to attack the Wolkenritter. The technical term for the vast majority of people who do stuff like that is 'dead' as going into battle with an untested spell is technically referred to as 'suicidal.' I'll talk more about what she did in later chapters, but she basically tried to bluff them and they called her on it.**

**Jail is, of course, Doctor Jail Scaglietti (the validity of the 'doctor' part is questionable). He is a mad scientist from season three of dubious morality who shows up to laugh evilly from time to time. The music he is listening to is Starlight Breaker's 'lietmotif' or theme song, **_**Tsudoe… Hoshi no Kagayaki**_** or, (roughly) translated, 'Gather, Light of the Stars'.**

**Some of you will be able to understand a good deal of what I am doing in A's from what I've said so far. I will not spoil it for those who don't. But I will say two things:**

**A's will be about the characters. And man, some of them have beautiful little neuroses.**

**Also, Fate will be getting therapy. Yes, really. I know, crazy thought. You won't get to listen in on the sessions (doctor-patient confidentiality and all that) but you will be kept in the loop.**

**Tune in next time for more magic stuff, more medical stuff, more psychological analysis, and TSAB politics. And paperwork.**

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><p><strong>LAST CHAPTER:<strong>

**As promised, answers to questions.**

**Q: Where did everyone teleport to?**

**A: Earth. Sorry for those of you who didn't catch that, I accidentally left it out. It is now, after some quick changes, present in… one sentence, while Fate is giving orders. And it doesn't explicitly say Earth, but it does imply it. So, um, my bad? Thank you to everyone who mentioned it, I may go back and fix it up better later.**

**Q: What happened at the end? I was completely lost after the teleport and things started exploding.**

**A: I could be snide and talk about using the information provided in Chapter 3 and a little imagination, but that would be unfair. So, remember what happened to the Arthra in Chapter 1? To cut a long story short, the system that performs that function was stolen by Yuuno. He has the 8 focusing crystals that produce the distortion effect be rearranged around Earth, then Fate helps him literally cut their 'power cord' out of the Garden of Time's systems and teleports to Earth with it. They power up the crystals, using the Jewel Seeds as batteries and BAM! They have a shield that can protect them…**

**Provided they supply enough power. Which they don't, due largely to Nanoha's heart failing and Arf having to restart it. And so the dislocation reaches one of the crystals, and suddenly Yuuno has only 7 crystals left. So he recalculates, does some heavy-duty teleporting, and… runs into the same problem. 6 crystals left. He does it again, and this time it is the crystals themselves that can't keep up, and he's down to 4 crystals and the entire system shuts down. They have almost succeeded at this point, and they redirect the Jewel Seeds into powering a planetary-scale shield, and then a smaller shield after that which protects Uminari City (which would have received the worst of it otherwise). They Jewel Seeds are out of power, but the world is saved.**

**If that doesn't help you, PM me or leave a review and I'll happily discuss it with you.**

**Q: Did they stop the dimensional rip from happening?**

**A: No. They just survived it. Wait for next chapter, and you'll get more details on what effects the dimensional dislocation had. You can thank Yuuno in advance.**

**Q: Why is everyone stranded on Earth? And for how long?**

**A: Because if you tried to dimensionally shift yourself to or from Earth, you would kill yourself very painfully. Dimensional space in the vicinity of the Garden of Time is NOT a good place to be at the moment. It will be a few years until it is safe to make the attempt, and it will be a bumpy ride for a decade or so.**

**Q: What was up with Yuuno? How did he do that bit at the end? That parallel processing capacity of his is unbelievable.**

**A: He is capable of doing pretty much everything he did. And yes, some of it was unbelievable, but this is the guy who, in canon, can meaningfully process information from 9 books he is simultaneously speed-reading (by which I mean 5 pages per second per book) through the use of a spell. He is ridiculously good at his specialties, and useless at anything else. That's just how he is. I figured that he could do a linear algebra problem in his head. *shrug***

**Q: It gets kind of cheesy at some points. Why?**

**A: The characters are mature, intelligent, serious, capable… nine-year-olds. They thought it was awesome. I figured it was cute and the chapter needed more warm-fuzzies. If they were teenagers, several scenes would have been drastically different.**

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><p><strong>Finally, thank you for your support. And good luck to all of you students out there with your exams.<strong>


	7. Chapter 7: Adjusting

**As always, I will be relying on my readers to tell me where I messed up in this chapter. If something looks off, let me know about it so that I can fix it.**

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><p>Chapter 7: Adjusting<p>

* * *

><p><strong>29 May, 0065<strong>

* * *

><p>It wasn't as if Fate had never been hugged before. Arf and Linith had never had any reservations about physical contact. Fate was somewhat troubled by her back, but it was mostly that her scars were related to… <span>Regardless<span>, she did not have issues with being touched.

Still, this was a bit much.

Fate proceeded to gently extricate herself from the pile of bodies on Nanoha's bed. Why they were sleeping together was a mystery to the blond. Between Nanoha's broken arm, Yuuno's bruises, and the fact that Nanoha's bed was sized for one child, not three and an adult, this was far from a good idea. As she moved Arf's arm off of herself, Fate corrected herself. Three children and a child-sized familiar, as Arf had switched to her more energy-efficient child form so that Fate could recover faster.

Finally free of the bed, Fate straightened her borrowed sleepwear. She had not had a chance to remove her belongings from her former living space, so she was wearing a large blue T-shirt that Miyuki had lent her. It hung loosely on her, and didn't so much cover her as engulf everything between her neck and her knees. Fate wasn't sure what she should make of Miyuki. The older girl seemed so flighty and silly, but from time to time she said and did things that showed she was a lot more aware than she acted.

It was like Nanoha's father when he had threatened Hayate, except Miyuki didn't go all cold and scary.

Fate hemmed and hawed, staring at the door. It would be uncomfortable, and possibly rude, to go out before getting dressed for the day. But her clothes were being washed, so unless she activated her barrier jacket she didn't have much choice. And that would wake up the others.

Eventually Fate snuck out of Nanoha's room in the hope that she could find her clothes before anyone noticed her. Unfortunately, Nanoha's mother spotted her as she walked down the hallway, and Fate soon found herself seated at the table as Momoko served breakfast to the elder members of the family.

"Did you sleep well last night?" Kyouya asked as he carried a plate to the table.

Fate blinked, and then nodded. In spite of everything, she really had had a good night's sleep, untroubled by nightmares or by her bedmates.

Kyouya stepped outside to take a telephone call, and Shirou consulted a daily planner on the counter while Miyuki and Fate ate. The three sleepyheads (Nanoha, Yuuno, and Arf) wandered in a little later, which made things a little crowded, but Fate didn't mind. Everyone was happy and safe, and while being thrown into the midst of things like this was kind of scary, Fate couldn't help but like it.

She did, however, sneak off to get her clothes and change into them at the earliest opportunity. She wasn't so comfortable with the others that she could wander among them partially dressed and not be embarrassed.

* * *

><p>"Hayate…"<p>

"Are you going to start supplicating and apologizing and beating yourself up over yesterday again?" Hayate looked pointedly at Signum, a touch of humor in her voice.

Signum twitched. She had screwed up royally. She had almost gotten Hayate killed. However, far from punishing them, Hayate had forbidden them from punishing themselves over the incident, smiling at them all the while. Hayate had actually thanked them for doing as she asked, and apologized for restricting them! Apologized! As if the Wolkenritter shouldn't have been able to win that fight blindfolded!

"Are you ready to go get breakfast?" Signum asked, outwardly unaffected by the prior day's events.

Somehow, Hayate's smile made it worth it.

* * *

><p>"I'll need to see about doing some paperwork to give the three of you legal identities here." Shirou informed Yuuno, Fate, and Arf. Fate and Arf nodded, but surprisingly Yuuno shook his head.<p>

Looking a bit sheepish, Yuuno explained that he had already done so. "I didn't want to get deported, or forced to get to school or anything, so I… set things up."

"Wait," Arf raised her hands. "That sheepish look, that squeaky edge to your voice… I sense guilt. Did you do that computer hacking thing?" She accused.

Yuuno flushed, flinching back from the familiar's jabbing finger.

"Didn't you say that was illegal?" Arf deadpanned. "I clearly remember you being reluctant to do it on the Garden. And yet, you did it to the Japanese government, just like that?"

"I did it eventually, didn't I?" Yuuno muttered, only audible to Arf's better-than-human hearing, then spoke louder. "It's standard procedure for my family. We go to a lot of Non-Administered Worlds, and on the non-magical worlds it saves us from awkward questions we aren't allowed to answer."

"Fair enough," said Shirou, apparently unbothered by hacking and forgery. "Who do you have as a legal guardian?"

"My grandmother. She has health problems, so I'm staying with some friends. I have intermittent problems with a chronic illness, so I have permission to be home-schooled. If anyone asks more about my family, I refuse to talk about personal matters."

"And that works?" Arf asked, somewhat incredulous.

"Japanese society is a great and noble thing to be a part of, but it has some notable quirks." Shirou said dryly. "It isn't as bad as it used to be, but family business still tends to stay in the family even when it shouldn't."

"I'm not great at lying, so it works well for me," said Yuuno. "Do you mind if I have my 'grandmother' disappear in the dislocation?" he asked Shirou. "I could then have you and your wife become my legal guardians, and I'm pretty sure I could bypass adoption stuff and the like if I do it right."

"Good in theory, but it is important to make the details work. How about…"

Fate and Arf watched on in awe and horror as the two schemed.

"Yuuno," Arf interrupted, "I'm almost afraid to ask, but are you sure that your family is made up of scholars, as opposed to, say, criminals?"

"We've been mostly legit for the past few generations," Yuuno said distractedly as he made notes. "Why?"

Arf bit back a comment about potential uses for his skill-set, and suppressed the urge to snark about his apparent willingness to run roughshod over the poor, unsuspecting local bureaucracy. While she had a sinking feeling that he wasn't being sarcastic with that statement, he had merely attempted to follow MidChildan laws regarding revealing magic to the local populace. It wasn't as if he was racking up a body count or burning down buildings or anything. It was a harmless, understandable thing to do. No need to bite his head off or make him feel guilty.

"…No reason."

Shirou, the very picture of integrity, had a suggestion. "How about you two take some time to think about how to describe your pasts without mentioning magic or cloning? It is best to keep your story as close to reality as possible to minimize the chance of you being caught in a lie."

He permitted himself a moment of smugness at how nobody had questioned his experience at this.

* * *

><p>Auris firmly believed that Regius Gaiz was a great man. He was dedicated beyond belief, loyal beyond doubt, and the best leader that the Capital Defense Corps had had in living memory. His personal life had suffered for it, sadly, but it was a minor sacrifice.<p>

"Zest, I need the best team for this job. And it is my belief that that is you and your team."

"Scaglietti is-"

"Not as important as this, and you know it."

Auris had little personal familiarity with Knight Zest, but knew of him. 'Knight' wasn't his actual rank, of course, but it was hard to think of the man otherwise. He was a practitioner of the Ancient Belkan magic system, a true rarity in the modern era. Strongly dedicated to honor, justice, and duty, he was widely considered the strongest mage attached to Ground Forces HQ. He was also an old friend of the Lieutenant General, although Auris knew that the two rarely had the time or opportunity to interact outside of official meetings these days.

"The Navy has indicated that it wants outsider help. If you pull it off, if you bring in whoever caused this Dimensional Dislocation, that one success could do as much good for the Ground Forces as all of the work I've done in the past decade," Lt. Gen. Gaiz continued. "And even if it is a joint capture, the fact remains that any criminal capable of causing a Dimensional Dislocation is the TSAB's first priority! I refuse to allow even the slightest chance that the same thing that happened to Non-Administered Planet 97 could happen here!"

"Scaglietti must be stopped." Zest pointed out, not quite disagreeing but not giving in so easily.

"Zest, I understand that Scaglietti has become personal for your team over the past year, but I need you elsewhere. I know that you haven't got any active leads at the moment. Pick a team, bring them up to speed, and hand the case off to them."

"Very well." Zest conceded reluctantly.

"Zest, if Scaglietti still isn't behind bars when you finish the Dimensional Dislocation case, I'll put you, Alpine, and Nakajima back on his case," said the lieutenant general. "You'll have my full support for as long as it takes."

Auris was proud of her commanding officer. He was a great leader who cared for his subordinates, and she was glad to be one of them.

* * *

><p>Vita, no matter what anyone else might say, was not a child.<p>

Many, many people had made that mistake in the past. Treating her according to her 'biological age' was foolish. She was a magical construct. Her flesh and blood was a facsimile, albeit one that extended down to the molecular level. Unless examined magically, Vita seemed to be a normal little girl.

But only seemed.

Food? Rest? Intact visceral organs? Completely unnecessary! Oh, they helped, but Vita had survived being stabbed through the heart. She had won battles while missing half her face. Her body count was larger than the population of Uminari! Vita had about as much 'little girl' in her as Hayate had meanness.

…She was just holding this plush rabbit for Shamal while she tried on some clothes.

* * *

><p>"So is this everything?" Momoko asked the assembled movers.<p>

"Sorry," Fate said, embarrassed. "I really don't have much."

It was true. The entire Takamachi family plus newcomers really wasn't needed to carry a few changes of clothing and some mementos, but they were there regardless. They had assumed, wrongly, that Fate would have a little more in the way of possessions.

Well, it was not quite the bonding experience Momoko had been hoping for, but it got everyone away from the TV and radio and newspaper.

Away from the casualty reports. The diagrams showing the devastated areas. The missing persons list.

She and Shirou had talked about it at length the previous night and come to the conclusion that it was impossible to keep such information from the children. But they might be able to blunt the impact somewhat. They would answer the children's questions honestly, and be willing to listen. Most importantly, they would provide a stable environment and deemphasize the recent crisis.

"Well, let's bring it all home. I can't imagine anyone is going to complain about a light load," Momoko smiled encouragingly at Fate.

"Don't worry," Nanoha chirped, "we can go shopping later."

"Ah…" Fate blinked. "I don't want to be a bother…"

"No way!" declared Miyuki emphatically. "You are much too cute to be a bother!"

"Eh?"

"I'll see if Suzuka and Arisa want to come…" Nanoha trailed off, frowning. "Yuuno, have you seen my phone?"

Yuuno thought about it. "Not today at least. I don't remember hearing the alarm go off either. When did you last have it?"

Nanoha considered. She hadn't had it yesterday, because she remembered that being why she didn't immediately put Hayate's phone number onto her contacts list. "Monday, maybe? Yeah, I think I had it when I left the house Monday morning…" Her face drained of color.

Arf scrunched up her face. "Today is Widnosday-"

"Wednesday," corrected Shirou.

"Wednesday, so that means… Oh dear." Arf hesitated. "Was it made of pink plastic?"

Nanoha nodded miserably.

"I might be wrong, but…" Arf scratched her head. "If it is what I think it is it wasn't, ah, lightning-proof. It didn't look very phone-like anymore. If you want to have I look, I think I hid it with the rest of the stuff we took from the Garden."

As Nanoha bemoaned over her slagged cellular device (She was never going to bring anything important into battle with her again!) Kyouya exchanged a glance with Miyuki. "I'm not sure which is stranger, the fact that my littlest sister's phone was broken by a magical lightning bolt or the fact that Nanoha can apparently tank a lightning strike and come out mostly unharmed."

"I just find it inherently unfair that Nanoha gets to have magical powers and I don't." Miyuki mumbled. "I always wanted to be a magical girl when I was that age."

"How could I forget 'Magical Girl Melodic Miyuki,' defender of justice and cakes?" Kyouya commented innocently. "I'll have to show them the pictures at some point."

"Don't you dare!" hissed the teenager.

Kyouya simply smiled.

* * *

><p>"Admiral Graham?" Chrono blinked in surprise. "How can I help you, sir?"<p>

Gil Graham smiled sadly. "I'm not sure you can. But I'm not here with a request. I'm here with a story. Consider it a last lesson from Aria, Lotte, and myself."

* * *

><p>This much Nanoha had been able to figure out: Uminari City was kind of a disaster zone.<p>

Her father took some time to give her an overview on the way home. Most of the city had power and water and shelter. Everyone had food, whether bought from the stores like usual or handed out to the displaced. School was cancelled for the time being, but there wasn't a curfew or martial law or anything and most shops remained open. The events of Monday had begun suddenly, and then ended so completely that there had not been much time or cause for panic. Those who were frightened opted to stay at home, as opposed to fleeing towards the mangled mountains or rioting in the notably intact city streets. The biggest problem was that there was no easy way to move significant amounts of goods into or out of the city by land. The roads and rails were disrupted by virtue of not resembling roads or rails anymore.

Air traffic was kept to an absolute minimum throughout Japan until enough satellites were launched. The GPS system required four satellites containing synchronized atomic clocks to be in range, and at the moment there was only one. Flights into Japan had been forced to rely on the frantic efforts of control towers, and while only one crash had occurred (The plane's right wing had been snapped as a consequence of being in the airspace over Uminari at exactly the wrong time.) there were plenty of close calls.

Fortunately, Uminari was a port city, and the bay was unblocked. It was annoying, but the Japanese could and had handled worse natural disasters in the past, and if they had to ship their supplies in then that's what was going to happen. The trains wouldn't be running for a while, but making sufficiently road-like pathways for vehicular use was simply a matter of days and weeks. Proper roads would, of course, require lots and lots of time and money. But that could come later. For now, the engineers and construction workers would just do their level best, and also to ignore the reshaping of the landscape. Uminari was still surrounded by hills and mountains, but you would be hard-pressed to recognize them.

* * *

><p>Kyouya ensconced himself in his room with his laptop and checked various bookmarked websites.<p>

In cyberspace, questions bounced between satellites, though there was a notable lack of them above Japan and the eastern edge of China. On forums, on networking sites, on messaging services, the same questions that radio and television hosts continually submitted to interviewee after interviewee resounded.

What happened? Why? Who did it? How did it happen? How can it prevented in the future?

And the answers, when lucid, were all the same: We don't know. We are trying to find out. We will do what we can.

And so life goes on, Kyouya mused. Science gives no answers, religion no concrete solutions. For most of the world, there will be no answers forthcoming.

For a handful of people in Uminari City, Japan, however… He chuckled.

Magic. The one thing that nobody would ever take seriously as an answer in the modern world. If Kyouya told anyone the truth they would never believe him. A thousand years ago, everybody on Earth would have arrived at the realization that there was something supernatural at work, though they would probably attribute it to some deity. But now nobody would be able to figure it out. There was something ironic about that.

* * *

><p>"I'm kind of surprised that the moon is still in one piece to be honest." Yuuno admitted. "We're lucky that it was on the other side of the planet, in the shadow of our defenses. If it had been shifted out of its stable orbit… That would have been bad."<p>

"Pity about the lunar landing site," said Arf.

"_In related news, astronomers are examining the effects on the rest of the solar system. The most notable finding so far is the apparent fusion of Charon and Pluto into a single celestial body."_ The newscaster cued an image. _"The resulting body is being tentatively considered the ninth planet of the solar system. Various names have been put forth, including Pluto, Hades, Kore, and Orcus."_

"It's kind of scary," Nanoha said quietly. "Pluto is really far away. It's hard to think of the distance as more than just a number, it's so big. And the dislocation just…" She gestured widely with her hands, unsure how to describe the oddly-shaped lump that had resulted.

Yuuno nodded solemnly. "That's the scary thing about it. If someone somehow made a normal magical attack with that range and power, it still wouldn't do as much damage. A blast might be able to break a mountain in half, but it won't bury half a continent in magma or drop a city into the ocean. The effect of the dislocation is closer to that of millions of randomized city-sized Forced Transport spells than to a conventional attack. And if you think about it, that's pretty terrifying." He grimaced. "The shockwave that comes with it is a slap on the wrist, compared to the dislocation itself. A dislocation, even if it doesn't destroy a world, will make the planets it affects pretty much uninhabitable. Old Belka is still wracked by massive tectonic upheaval to this day. We got off lightly."

"It is the worst crime an individual can commit, according to the TSAB." Fate noted sadly.

"Are you alright?" asked Nanoha, giving Fate's hand a light squeeze.

She wasn't. Nanoha knew that, and Fate was sure everyone else did, too. But there are only so many ways to say 'How are you doing?', and Nanoha was really only asking about how she felt about Mother.

"The Mother in Alicia's memories and the Mother who caused this… are different." Fate said simply, and did not elaborate.

Fortunately for Fate, Nanoha's mother called them to lunch before she had to dwell on it further.

* * *

><p>The Wolkenritter were excellent shoppers. They would get the most nutritious food for the lowest cost, and all Hayate had to do was teach them that taste was also an important consideration. However, cooking was not included in their skill sets.<p>

Hayate was ashamed to admit that she felt happy about that. It was something she could do that the Wolkenritter could not. She could cook for them, once she had gotten the kitchen in their small apartment stocked. How Shamal had managed to find a vacant apartment and work things out with the manager in only two hours was a mystery to Hayate, but she certainly wasn't going to complain.

It was a good start.

Clothes were also a good start. The four knights didn't have many clothes, but they did have a few sets of normal clothes that looked good on them, which was quite an improvement from one set of plain black uniforms. Speaking of clothing, Hayate still needed to design armor for her knights. She needed to find out more about that, but she should probably wait until they were back at the apartment. For now, she could just enjoy the day.

So they sat themselves down in the park, and ate some food from prepackaged bento boxes without drawing too much attention to themselves. It occurred to Hayate that they had yet to cause a single explosion or catastrophe today.

When had her standards fallen so far? She mockingly bemoaned, her mouth twitching up at the edges.

But humor aside, Hayate felt she was adjusting to the presence of her knights rather quickly. It wasn't exactly a bad thing, quite the opposite, but it left her feeling that there was a sudden divide between her life before magic and her life afterwards.

And nothing symbolized the change quite like the 'Buch der Dunkelheit', the Book of Darkness.

Setting aside her bento box, Hayate flipped through the strangely weightless book. As usual ('Usual', after only two days!) the tome was empty. But as she closed the book, movement caught her eye, and she reopened it only to watch in puzzlement and trepidation as ink sped across the last page of the book. Or rather the first page; she should have realized that it was ordered left to right like western literature.

"The fight must have sped up the process," declared Zafira upon seeing the filled page. "The Book of Darkness must have reallocated power so that you would be able to use it to defend yourself."

"It's alive?" Hayate asked curiously. "Like Raising Heart and Bardiche?"

Signum frowned. "It reacts, it adapts, and it stores power and information. But I do not believe it is an intelligent device. I do not recall it ever showing more sentience than Laevatein."

"It has a good idea though," Shamal mused. "While the pages of the Book of Darkness are unfilled, the Book's functions are all dependent on your body's ability to fuel it through the linker core it implanted into you when you were chosen as our mistress. The curse of the Book of Darkness is that maintaining such output is hard on your body. You are showing no negative effects so far, but if you started casting anything but the simplest spells then that balance could be disrupted, putting your life at risk. But this way," she gestured to the filled page, "by expending the magic stored in the pages of the Book, you could cast any spell collected by the book in the past by reciting the incantation. There would be no negative repercussions."

"Of course, what spells you can cast are dependent on how many pages are filled." Signum added. "If the Book doesn't have enough stored mana, it won't work."

Hayate frowned. "But I don't need to use magic. I would rather just give you guys all of the power you need. Can I do that?"

Vita finished her bento and joined the conversation. "You get administrative powers when the Book's pages are full. But don't worry about it, we have over a hundred pages worth of magic between us, and our linker cores replenish our supply just like normal mages' do. One page every couple of days is less than nothing. I haven't felt any weaker."

"Just keep the Book with you in case of an emergency," suggested Zafira. "There are many spells within it. I am certain the Book will provide you with an appropriate one, whatever the situation."

"Well, then, little one," Hayate declared, raising the tome to eyelevel, "I'll leave myself in your capable hands. Thanks for looking after me."

The golden symbol on the cover gleamed in response.

* * *

><p>Arf, still child-sized, slumped against the side of the house and considered a picture.<p>

The picture was no more than a few years old, though as she had rarely seen clocks, let alone calendars, on the Garden Arf was unsure of the timing. Linith hadn't had a camera and Bardiche was unfinished, so Precia's familiar had repurposed a security camera and somehow preserved the captured image on the glossy stuff that photos are printed on.

It was a simple shot of the three of them (Arf, Fate, and Linith that is; Precia wasn't interested) with Arf and Fate clinging to either side of the catgirl (catwoman, really) in a maid uniform with big smiles on their faces. All of them were smiling. The only thing spoiling the memory was Arf's knowledge of what had made this the only existing picture of the woman who Arf considered a mother in all but blood.

Not so with Fate, sadly. Although Linith had been a mother figure to the girl, Precia had always been 'Mother' to Fate. If it weren't for that, maybe Fate would have seen the truth of Precia's feelings sooner... But 'what if' was a pointless exercise.

Arf sighed. Linith had not provided her with any useful advice for this sort of situation. It wasn't completely unexpected, but to say that she was unprepared was a bit of an understatement.

Not that she had much to complain about. She was alive, Fate was alive, they had a home, and Precia was gone. That was… pretty much all of her life's goals accomplished. And she was faced with the realization that she had completely based her life around Fate and Precia. So much was different now, and it was kind of… not scary but… unpredictable. It wasn't the sort of fear she felt when Precia had been alone with Fate. Nothing compared to that. But that didn't make this… nervousness any easier to deal with. There was nothing wrong with being nervous about the future, was there? She just had to not let it control her.

Dying wasn't something Arf got nervous about. She had been prepared for that for a long time, never really believing that Precia would let her live when the time came. Arf could remember bleeding out in the snow in her previous life as a wolf. Death happens to everybody, the inevitable conclusion. Dying? Dying was easy. Living was the hard part.

Arf the wolf knew, below the level of sentience, that that was the point.

Arf the familiar was nervous.

And the part of Arf that she liked to think was human got up and went inside to spend some more time with the most important person in her life.

* * *

><p>As her allies were all healthy and their cartridges all charged, Shamal engaged in some 'reassurance'.<p>

It's only spying if you get caught.

Thankfully, Shamal was pleased to find that her scrying was only confirming her initial impressions. The children acted almost like normal children. They were unguarded in their movements, and seemed to be operating under the assumption that the ceasefire with the Wolkenritter was permanent. That boded well, as it decreased the chance of a fight. Shamal knew that her own actions now might ruin that, but better to take the risk and know where everyone stood than to fumble blindly.

If it weren't for Nanoha's occasional use of whatever the MidChildan equivalent of combining Floater Field with a movement spell was (Miyuki quickly dubbed it 'Telekinesis' and refused to let Yuuno correct her) to compensate for her broken arm, Shamal would not have been able to tell that they were mages. The Takamachi family was clearly used to not using magic, which lent credence to Nanoha's claims about her training. Shamal hadn't really doubted, but it was good to double-check.

Yuuno had wisely chosen not to heal Nanoha's arm, she noted with approval. Magical healing should only be used for such injuries when absolutely necessary. For one thing, the healing spell disrupted the body's own efforts to deal with it. And it was better to let it heal on its own than to shove foreign magic into the bone. Flesh held magic for only a short time, but it would be months before the unnatural and invasive presence of the magic was finally gone from bone, and that would increase the difficulty of successfully using another healing spell on the arm by an order of magnitude. She could do it, but Yuuno didn't have the training.

Like most people, the Takamachi family had various little psychological issues. Only the children actually had serious problems though. Arf and Fate could use therapy, she felt, although simply being in a safe, supportive environment was already helping a lot. Yuuno had a mild case of survivor's guilt, but would probably get over it eventually if he talked it out with someone. Nanoha… she couldn't get a good read on Nanoha. The Takamachi was not unaffected by events, but she seemed to be running on the high from saving Fate, Arf, and the entire planet. Only time would tell with her.

The other person of interest was Shirou, who had a dangerous combination of experience and skill. He had come closer to killing Hayate than Shamal, than any of them, had thought possible, simply by using his talents and his wits. Signum had described him as highly intelligent and intuitive, but it was hard to catch more than occasional hints of his lethality. If his pleasant nature was a façade, it was a very good one. More likely, his personality during the fight yesterday had been similar to the emotionless masks normally used by the Wolkenritter in combat. But it was impossible to verify that.

There was only so much information Shamal could learn from a couple of hours of conversation and watching 'The Life and Times of the Peaceful and Ordinary Takamachi Family (No Mages Here, Honest!)'. Anyone less experienced than her would have found this exercise pointless. Further scrying was unlikely to yield more for the time being.

Not even the Book of Darkness had a spell that granted omniscience.

Perhaps there would be no further conflict. Shamal hoped so. After all, as the support unit she was not programmed to seek or enjoy battle.

* * *

><p>"Why did you promise Grangeitz your support?" The councilor on the left demanded. "Scaglietti is too useful to be put behind bars. It would be better to assign a less effective investigator to his case."<p>

"Scaglietti has nearly perfected his method of producing combat cyborgs by creating artificial mages and modifying them." Regius Gaiz rumbled. "But that isn't good enough for our purposes. I wish to encourage him not to rest on his laurels. He will have until Zest tracks him down, and no longer than that. After all, I am not supporting his criminal activities. If he has enough time to cause trouble, he isn't working hard enough."

"His… excesses are an unavoidable side effect of his genius." The councilor on the right cautioned. "It is doubtful that he will be affected by the threat of Grangeitz."

"Zest's team is the ideal one to 'discover' fully functional combat cyborg technology." Regius countered. "He is highly regarded, and additionally his team includes the mother of the future poster children for the combat cyborg project. The eldest will be entering training to join Ground Forces in a few years, and I'll be able to see to it that she gets a chance to shine."

"And if Grangeitz, Nakajima, and Alpine solve their new case, then they will be hailed as heroes. Any success following that will be all the more highly regarded." The central councilor mused. "Very well, we will trust your judgment. You are as sharp as we had hoped, and are willing to take the difficult path to perform your duty. You have done much good these past years. Keep it up and our goals will surely be realized within a decade."

* * *

><p>He had failed Hayate.<p>

Zafira had failed to stop Shirou Takamachi from reaching Hayate. There was no rancor or blame with that thought. It was simple fact. Shirou had protected his family, which was perfectly understandable.

Zafira would do better next time. That was all there was to it.

* * *

><p>"I just don't understand <span>why<span>." Chrono said despondently, frustration warring with disappointment and anger. "You went against everything you ever taught me."

"I didn't teach you to be like me," said Graham. "I taught you to be better." The response came so promptly that it was obvious that the admiral had thought about the matter a lot. "I planned to commit a crime, and more importantly to do something terrible and wrong, in order to save lives. I lost sight of the fact that laws exist for a reason. Sometimes laws can, and should, be broken in order to preserve the purpose behind them…"

"But this wasn't one of them," Chrono finished.

"No. No, it wasn't. And I didn't see that, I refused to see that, until it was too late." Graham looked intently at his student. "You will, at some point in your life, encounter a situation where the course mandated by law may seem to be the wrong one. There is no one correct path in such cases. You will have to look at the situation and decide for yourself what the right course of action is. Laws exist for a reason, and that reason is not merely to follow them blindly. But neither should you forget that they do indeed exist for a reason, and probably a good one.

"I now know my mistake," Graham continued, "but I want to make sure that you do as well. I rationalized. I tried to convince myself that what I was doing was right. That what I was doing was good. That it was Hayate's fate to be sealed forever, a sacrifice for the good of all. I should have seen the truth: that if I had to rationalize my decision I was on the wrong path."

Chrono sat quietly, and did his best to treat this like a normal ethics lecture, but his mentor's emotions were visible and raw. And Chrono, knowing why, couldn't help but wonder if this was going to be the last time he saw Graham in uniform. But he didn't say that.

"I'll remember," promised the young enforcer.

Graham smiled. "For what little it's worth, I'm proud of you. And if your father was here, he'd tell you the same thing."

* * *

><p>"She has to call soon, though." Suzuka assured Arisa over the phone. "I'm sure she's fine. She's probably just busy helping her family."<p>

Shinobu entered the room, drawing her little sister's attention, and indicated that she wanted to talk.

"I'll call you back later, okay?" Suzuka took a few seconds to politely disengage from her conversation, while Shinobu picked up a cat and stole its place on the couch, bribing the feline with some petting.

"I don't know if you've heard from Nanoha yet," Shinobu began, only to be halted by the keen gaze of her sister.

"Haveyouheardfromher? I'vebeensoworried! Arisa'sbeengettingfrantic! Shesaidshe'dbefine butit'sbeendaysand-"

"Woah, woah, calm down," said Shinobu. "I called Kyouya this morning and he filled me in a little. Nanoha got a little banged up, but apart from a broken arm she's doing fine. They've taken in some friends who were left homeless, and they've been getting them settled. That's why I took over at the Midori-ya this morning, so that they could go salvage Fate's and Arf's belongings."

"Fate? Arf? Are they foreigners?"

"I don't know. Kyouya promised to introduce me to them in a few days, and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me?"

Suzuka smiled brightly. "Sure! I'll let Arisa…" She trailed off.

"Is something the matter?" asked Shinobu.

"No," said Suzuka uneasily. "I just think I'll text her instead. She'll probably be really excited about this. And loud."

"Yes, that certainly sounds like her," Shinobu cheerfully agreed. "I'll make sure to let him know you're coming."

* * *

><p>"Doctor, Due has returned." Uno called out to her father, stepping aside to let her companion enter the room first.<p>

"Ah, Due," Jail's eyes gleamed. "It is good to have you back safe and sound. Were you successful?"

The blond combat cyborg smiled, and presented Jail with a large piece of cloth, smeared in places by dried blood.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**Much like Chapter 3, this chapter is primarily here to give you an idea of where everything stands, though it does advance the plot somewhat.**

**I suppose I should tell you not to assume that the characters are either correct or honest when they say or think things. Some of them are completely truthful, but for some of them you'll have to look beyond face value. Sometimes what they don't say is important as well. And sometimes they will get things wrong.**

**I introduced two new characters this time, Auris and Zest Grangeitz, and we will be seeing them around from time to time. Zest's team will be some of the active players on the TSAB side of the story. For those who don't know, Zest's team consists of him, a summoner called Megane Alpine, and Quint Nakajima, mother of two in a complicated fashion. I have a love-hate relationship with these guys, because information about them is somewhat sparse, or rather the information I have and the information I want don't correspond as much as I would like. Supplemental materials, here I come.**

**You also met some as-yet-unnamed councilors of no real importance to the actual operation of the TSAB, but of some small influence in matters of policy. Like their friends Regius and Scaglietti, they are warm, loving individuals trying their best to cut out the bureaucracy and fight for the good of the people. Those 5 are the unsung heroes of this story, folks. The kind of people that go out and work for 18 hours every day to make the world a better place, then run off to save kittens and give speeches at schools and work at soup kitchens during their spare time. Furthermore, they donate all of their income to charity and subsist on bread, water, and their conviction to bring peace to the universe.**

**These men are practically saints, let no one tell you otherwise.**

**On an unrelated note, thank you again to all of the people who are reviewing. Your support is a great help to me, especially those of you who pose to me your questions and suggestions. While I could, technically, do it without you guys, I don't think the story would be half as good.**

**Also, does the picture works with the story?**


	8. Chapter 8: Growing Pains

**I'm sorry this didn't come out sooner. I am now, as some of you may know, in Canada, which has taken what should have been a long period of free time and chopped it into pieces I can grab here and there to write in. Also, I can be a bit of a perfectionist occasionally, so typing this up and editing it took me… half a day, maybe. By which I mean twelve hours or so, spread over a couple days. And now I feel ridiculous for being concerned that it isn't up to standard… But I know there are better writers on this website and I can't help but compare myself to them.**

**I get the feeling that I've messed up somewhere in this chapter, but I can't think of what. If you see anything that seems odd, please let me know.**

**Now, this chapter has a lot less viewpoint jumping in it, and also a lot more of the chapter is written from specific viewpoints. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am still trying things out. So, like pretty much every chapter before it, I have something I am unsure about. This time I am starting the chapter partway through, then going back and showing you how things arrived at that point.**

**If you get confused or you think it would work better with everything in chronological order, tell me. Seriously, I could do it in two minutes, but only if you guys tell me that the way it is now isn't working. I'll be relying on you!**

**Without further ado:**

* * *

><p>Chapter 8: Growing Pains<p>

* * *

><p><strong>June 1, 0065<strong>

* * *

><p>Yuuno squirmed futilely against the ropes rendering him more-or-less immobile. It was hard to think – his head still felt like it was wrapped in cotton – but eventually he realized that he wouldn't be escaping any time soon. Settling for glaring at his captors, Yuuno tried to focus, but it wasn't easy. Everything was so fuzzy.<p>

"Sorry about this," Shamal said, and to be fair she really seemed to mean it. "I'll make this as quick as I can."

Yuuno wondered how events had led to this…

* * *

><p>"<em>Oh boy!" exclaimed a young archeologist. "These Jewel Seeds are amazing! I can't wait to examine them!"<em>

"_Don't worry, you'll get the opportunity soon enough," chuckled a TSAB officer. "We'll take good care of them, and you'll be informed when the chance to examine them arrives. There's absolutely no chance that we'll lose them, causing a chain of events that will result in a dimensional dislocation!"_

"_I trust you implicitly, bumbling official!" Yuuno chirped._

* * *

><p>Yuuno blinked. That… didn't seem right. He was pretty sure that that wasn't how it had happened. Yuuno did his best to focus, to clear away the haze that his mind floated in…<p>

Then the world turned to agony as Shamal ripped the linker core out of his chest.

* * *

><p><strong>Several hours earlier:<strong>

* * *

><p>It was a peaceful summer day. The sky was blue, the clouds a perfect fluffy white, and Nanoha longed to head out into the sweltering heat. She couldn't wait to start flying again, but she didn't know how to make a barrier to hide that from prying eyes.<p>

"Of all the irresponsible-"

"Arisa, please, calm down!"

"I'm only going to strangle her a little! It isn't like she actually uses her head, she'll never know the difference!"

"Nanoha, at least try to defuse this," Yuuno scolded. "She does have a valid point about your risk-taking tendencies. Just explain your reasoning."

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Nanoha said, as if that explained everything.

"…"

"…"

"…"

Yuuno buried his face in his hands. Weren't girls supposed to be more socially capable then boys? Even if it was true, Nanoha's response was the wrong one. Especially if it was true.

"Knock yourself out, Arisa," said Suzuka dryly.

"I can't. It would be like…" Arisa struggled to find a suitable comparison. "Like kicking an autistic puppy or something."

"Hey!"

"I suppose I could forgive you," Arisa pretended to consider, smirking the way she did when she was feeling crafty, "for leaving us out of the loop while you ran off to save the world."

"It wasn't exactly like that…" Nanoha trailed off. "Well, I would have gotten Yuuno in trouble!"

"Oh, don't worry, 'Kyubey' over there is next on my list." Arisa 'reassured' her.

"My name is Yuuno," the boy corrected, confused by the reference.

Arisa continued as if he had not spoken. "You have to show me your magic! I want to see how this works."

"That sounds like fun," Suzuka agreed, though in a much less predatory manner. "We should gather everyone up so you can show off your powers now that you are more-or-less healed." Nanoha fingered her left arm's wrappings unconsciously, but readily agreed.

Yuuno grimaced. What kind of logic did these girls run on? They could have just asked. At least Arf and Fate made sense.

* * *

><p>The four of them swept into the kitchen (with varying degrees of enthusiasm) where Shinobu, Kyouya, Fate and Arf were. For a moment, Yuuno froze up, the realization that Shinobu might not have been told the true story hitting him. Thankfully, Fate's real history had apparently been conveyed to Suzuka's older sister, as she showed no surprise at the girls' suggestion.<p>

Yuuno cast a glance over at Fate, who looked overwhelmed. That wasn't really surprising, given that she was surrounded by new people. Fate was able to function around small groups of known, trusted individuals to an extent, but her social skills were mediocre. If she didn't know a good way to handle something, she defaulted to politeness. And if that didn't work, she just froze up. Hurricane Arisa, with her pointed questions about Fate's intentions and past, was well on the way to reducing Fate to a stuttering wreck (and Arf a hair's breadth from intervening) when Shinobu deftly seized the reigns of the conversation and suggested that Nanoha proceed with her demonstration in the dojo.

Returned to the periphery of the conversation, Fate was calm enough to let go of Arf by the time they reached the dojo. Yuuno noted that she made no move to rejoin the conversation, which was a sensible decision. Arisa was like a shark, she could sense blood in the water from miles away.

"Do the transformation sequence!" Suzuka encouraged Nanoha, though not as loudly as Arisa. Yuuno had only a vague idea of what that meant, but apparently Nanoha was quite familiar with it, as she acted without hesitation.

Lifting Raising Heart above her head, Nanoha complied.

"Raising Heart! Set up!"

"**Standby, Ready."**

In accordance with Nanoha's wishes (Yuuno assumed, or at least hoped, that Raising Heart was a bit more practical usually) Raising Heart took longer than normal to form the barrier jacket piece by piece, with plenty of gratuitous ribbons of pink light. Nanoha gave her staff a twirl with her right hand as the bow on the front of her magical armor materialized, and struck a pose. Yuuno felt that it was kind of silly, but the non-mages were all rather impressed. It was just the difference in their experiences, he supposed. To him, barrier jackets were normal.

Fate followed suit, minus the device-twirling and ribbons, and received a little applause and some cheers from the girls. Her face burning, Fate scooted over to the supportive figure of her familiar, leaving Yuuno to go next. He was honestly a bit leery of using magic after the pain that his spellcasting had caused him while fighting Signum, but he'd had some time to recover. His linker core seemed fine, as best he could tell, but he would just form his barrier jacket and then beg off from further demonstrations.

With a practiced appli…

* * *

><p>"Yuuno! Yuuno! Talk to me, what's wrong?"<p>

Yuuno blearily blinked at Kyouya's worried face, utterly confused. Why was he on the floor? He tried to sit up, only to be made aware of an intense throbbing ache that was present throughout his body. Letting out a hiss of pain, Yuuno did his best to relax his inexplicably pained muscles.

"You collapsed, and weren't responding to me for a few seconds. Are you in pain?" Kyouya prompted, to which Yuuno gave a small, jerky nod. "What hurts?"

Time was liquid as Kyouya slowly dragged the information that he needed out of Yuuno. At Yuuno's insistence, no ambulance was called. It wouldn't help. Painkillers did, though Kyouya seemed oddly hesitant about that. As the pain receded into a curious dissociation, Yuuno regained enough lucidity to realize why Kyouya was the one taking care of him. A vague awareness of the presence of others in the room also returned, but Yuuno's focus was on his problems.

He had collapsed while, for lack of a better description, drawing mana from his linker core. So his problem lay there.

And Yuuno was the only one who had an aptitude for healing magic, which was, to the best of his admittedly limited knowledge, necessary for dealing with linker core-related problems. Not that he had the proper training, but that was rather a moot point considering that he couldn't use magic.

…Drat.

-linebreak-

* * *

><p>Yuuno's semi-aware doze was broken by Nanoha's voice. Or more specifically, by what she said. If there was one phrase that Yuuno was beginning to associate with imminent pain and suffering, it was 'I have a plan.' And thanks to the use of the speakerphone setting, Yuuno was able to hear both sides of the ensuing conversation.<p>

"Of course we would be happy to help!" The voice of his doom said emphatically with the chirpiness of bunnies.

Something was off about that, Yuuno puzzled. Something about painkillers glimmered in his muzzy thoughts, but it disappeared before he could grasp it.

"Thank you so much," Nanoha said. "We're really worried and our only other option was finding the right dosage of painkillers to get him lucid enough to try fixing himself."

Yuuno tried to muster the will to voice his support for Plan B, but failed.

"Under no circumstances should you try that," Shamal interjected. "If he were more awake he'd tell you the same thing. Even I wouldn't try to operate on my own linker core and healing is my best skill."

"We'll be there as soon as possible," the mistress of evil announced. Maybe he would be able to escape before they arrived?

As if she could hear his thoughts, Arf's hand landed on his shoulder. The look on her face was one of reassurance, but Yuuno was fairly sure that she was holding him in place. Traitor. Or something.

"I have the coordinates for the dojo if you can perform a teleport." Fate suggested.

"Ah, thank you." Shamal said. "Whenever you are ready."

Yuuno could only listen helplessly as Fate described her parameters to the mages on the other side of the phone.

* * *

><p>Shamal grimaced as her spell ended, which Yuuno considered a poor sign. He was more awake now, though things were still a little off. "Well, the good news is that I can fix this quickly, fairly easily, and at next to no risk."<p>

"So what's the bad news?" Shirou asked. When did he get here? Yuuno wondered.

"My method is… nonstandard." Shamal explained. "Think of Yuuno's problem as a malfunctioning pump in a nuclear reactor's cooling system. The reactor works fine, but without coolant it becomes increasingly dangerous and inefficient as it runs. Eventually, if it runs for too long, meltdown occurs. I can fix the pump, solving the problem."

"How is that bad?" Hayate asked.

"She will have to directly access his linker core," Signum informed them. "Which is impossible using gentle methods. It will be excruciatingly painful."

Shamal continued. "It will take maybe thirty seconds, but he has to be awake for it or his linker core will try to wake him up by force. In his current state, that is an unacceptable danger. We'll need to immobilize him, preferably with physical restraints. As convenient as magical binds are, they lack the permanence of rope or chain and can be broken with effort. If he breaks free he will hurt himself."

"So what is the other option?" Yuuno asked. Silence greeted him. "Oh, come on, there has to be something."

"We could drain your linker core using the Book of Darkness and hope that you heal properly." Vita said dryly. "But I suggest option one."

Shamal sighed. "The problem is, I'm not a civilian doctor. I'm a battlefield medic. Everything I know, every surgery, every spell, every technique, is the best option in terms of time taken, results gained, and recovery time required. Nothing else factors in. Perhaps there are other options, but this is what I know, what I can do. It will hurt. But it will work."

Shirou responded, but Yuuno's short supply of attention was drawn to Arisa, who knelt next to him. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "If I hadn't…"

"It would have happened eventually," Yuuno grumbled. "Not your fault."

He didn't get much of a chance to see if that had helped her feel less guilty, as Arf picked him up and carried him to Nanoha's bedroom for the treatment.

* * *

><p><strong>Present:<strong>

* * *

><p>"Let him sleep it off," Shamal instructed Arf as she ran a diagnostic on the unconscious boy on the bed. "I don't want him to do any magic until tomorrow and I want to be there when it happens. But other than that, as best I can tell it seems he's going to be okay."<p>

Arf grunted in acknowledgement.

"…I'm sorry." Shamal said quietly. "I should have handled our first meeting better."

"Yes. You should have." Arf's words were utterly devoid of inflection, and Shamal could not tell whether her apology had been spurned or accepted.

"Will you allow me to examine you and your friends?" Shamal asked tentatively.

"Fate is my master, not the other way around."

Another non-answer. An indication of animosity or of distrust? Both? Neither? Arf was purposefully making this difficult, Shamal concluded. But she needed to extend this olive branch sooner rather than later, so she pressed on.

"If I ask them, I imagine they will say yes without a second thought. So I am asking you if you are comfortable with that."

Arf snorted. "No. Of course I'm not comfortable with that. Do it anyway though. You, we can fight. Illness, we can't." Not waiting for Shamal to formulate a response, Arf swept out of the room to inform those waiting of Yuuno's restored health.

Shamal grimaced. "Well, I suppose that's the best I can hope for."

* * *

><p>"I still cannot believe this!"<p>

Megane ignored her friend's ranting, thinking her options through for the umpteenth time. She had already exhausted her supply of complaints about being taken off the Scaglietti case hours ago, and was trying her best to focus on what she could control. Quint wasn't helping.

Zest was the sort of leader who led by example rather than by micromanagement. He trusted his team implicitly, and for good reason. She wouldn't be betraying that trust if she slipped into a less risky position for much of their next assignment. She wasn't as much of a front-line combatant as she had been back when she first met Quint, anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. Of course, that essentially meant she was going to be signing herself up for the brunt of whatever paperwork they would have to deal with, but someone had to do that and why not her?

"I am going to kick those jerks where the sun doesn't shine when I get the chance!"

"Subaru will cry if you get yourself arrested." Megane pointed out absently. As long as Zest didn't consider her to be in any trouble, he would stay out of her personal life. And Quint was respectful enough of her privacy to not press for information. Yet. She should really get it over with and tell them… maybe tomorrow?

Her thoughts were derailed by the appearance of her irate friend's face inches away from her own. "No! No! You're doing it wrong!" The expressive woman scolded Megane. "You're supposed to sympathize with me and help me vent, not point out the flaws in my reasoning! That's Genya's job after he finishes helping me…" She leered. "…Calm down."

"Too much information, Quint!" Megane gestured frantically, blushing hard. Somehow Quint could turn anything into innuendo if she tried, and Megane never knew when she was being serious. "I have no interest in your sex life!"

"Oh, don't be such a prude," Quint sniffed. "Well, since you obviously aren't going to cooperate, you're helping me train today to work off some steam. You've been letting yourself go a little lately, might even get a bit of a potbelly at this rate." She smirked as she prodded Megane's abdomen.

Megane sputtered. "You- I- Potbelly- What?"

"Of course, if you're still sore from your last beat down, I'll understand." Quint demurred.

"Not a chance, Nakajima," Megane growled. "I can take you on anytime."

Quint grinned. "Prove it, Alpine."

* * *

><p>"Quite a troublemaker, aren't you, Gil?" Admiral Crowbel scolded Graham. "We've had a hard time deciding what to do with you."<p>

Graham rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, cheered in spite of himself by his superior's presence. It was a mystery to him how she pulled it off, but Mizetto Crowbel oozed 'grandma'. She looked every inch the quintessential elderly woman, short in stature with a face grooved by laugh lines and eyes that rarely opened fully. Some small part of him expected her to go around pinching little boys' cheeks, knitting sweaters, and giving people slices of pie. She made it seem so natural that if he hadn't known her from before her hair turned gray, he would have said that she had always looked like this.

"So what's the verdict?" He asked, surprised at how nervous he felt. But he supposed that the TSAB was the single biggest constant left in his life. If he was discharged then he wasn't sure what he would do with himself.

"You'll be happy to hear that we aren't going to be using you as a scapegoat." Crowbel said seriously. "The dislocation is so serious a matter that we can't just start pointing fingers. We need to find out who did this and how and we need to do it fast. To be blunt, you are on an unofficial permanent probation, and you will be required to cooperate fully with the investigation."

"Very well. It would be my pleasure to help bring those responsible to justice." Graham said sincerely. If anything, he felt he was a little too eager, which brought the risk of obsession and tunnel vision. He would have to watch out for that.

If only his newfound self-awareness had not had such a cost…

* * *

><p>Megane spat out a few blades of grass as she picked herself off the ground. "'A-class' my ass. I swear, that Unchain Knuckle deserves to be classified as a rare skill."<p>

"It doesn't do much for me unless someone tries to immobilize me." Quint hopped down from her vantage point above the training area, the magical construct she had been standing on disintegrating behind her. "I haven't got anything strong enough to put me in the big leagues. My poor devices are at their limits, dealing with my antics. I'm hoping that R&D will come up with something I can use."

Megane nodded. Quint's rather unique compensation for her, at best, mediocre flight skills, Wing Road, was able to create a solid pathway out of mana. It complimented her Strike Arts well, but the calculations Quint had to perform to use it were beyond the capabilities of her twin storage devices. Needless to say, this used up a lot of Quint's concentration, and using additional spells was a strain. Which was to say, it was impossible for a lesser mage. If Quint ever got a hardware upgrade that let her put more 'oomph' into her attacks, she would go up a rank with just a little work to iron out the kinks in her fighting style.

If she got an intelligent device, she could probably make a strong try for S rank. But given the 'finders keepers' rule, the navy had a distinct advantage over the ground forces in obtaining such devices. And tearing apart an AI's code to find out what made it sapient was generally viewed the same way as dissecting a living person to find their soul. Supposedly, R&D was close to figuring it out, but they had been saying that for over a decade. Apparently they had almost succeeded, but then the head scientist at the lab had gone crazy or something like that, and the fallout had set them back years. The breakthrough could come tomorrow or it could come a decade from now.

"You need to be more offensive." Quint advised. "Your barrier jacket is strong enough to soak up a few hits, so trust it to do its job if doing so gives you a chance to launch a counterattack. Also, your shooting spells could be faster."

Accepting the criticism graciously, Megane reciprocated. "Try to make Wing Road more resistant to damage. Also, don't rely solely on your speed to make up for Wing Road's predictability, use shooting magic to help you close in on your opponents."

Not much different from last time, but they didn't have a lot of time to train amidst their busy work schedule. Megane and Quint deactivated their barrier jackets, the day's practice done. Megane was more than ready to go back to her apartment and rest at this point.

"Do you need a ride home?" She asked Quint.

"No, Genya is picking me up." Megane's boisterous friend replied. Exchanging goodbyes, the two went their separate ways. It felt somewhat awkward to just leave like that, but what else was there to say?

…Tomorrow. She'd tell Quint tomorrow.

The walk to her car was quiet, which left Megane little to do but think. Being moved from a case before it was closed was something she loathed. The knowledge that the criminal responsible was still out there was like an itch in the back of her mind. And it was always worse with the bad ones, like Scaglietti. The man, and she used the word in the loosest sense possible, was a nightmare. He had been a criminal for longer than she had been in law enforcement, and yet he had never seen the inside of a jail cell. No one had ever come nearly as close as her team, and yet they were reassigned just like that. She hadn't really believed that it was going to happen until it was finalized today…

It felt like giving up. Megane hated that more than anything else about their reassignment.

However, while she wasn't happy to be off the Scaglietti case, there was a silver lining: eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. No being woken up at midnight to hear that Scaglietti had kidnapped some new test subjects or stolen a Lost Logia or used illegal experimental weaponry to carve his initials into a mountain… Scaglietti seemed to go out of his way to rub their noses in their impotence, always staying three steps ahead of the TSAB in spite of his lack of subtlety.

Forcefully setting aside thoughts of the criminal, Megane glanced at the lights turning on to drive back the evening shadows from several rooms in the building where she and her compatriots worked. Most would leave before nightfall, but some would not be leaving tonight. She felt especially sympathetic for the team working on the Shroud of the Saint King case. There was a lot of pressure being applied to speed up the process of retrieving the holy artifact from whoever had stolen it, but scuttlebutt was that they weren't having much luck. They wouldn't be getting much sleep.

Tomorrow evening, it would probably be her, Zest, and Quint burning the midnight oil. Best to rest while she could.

* * *

><p><strong>June 2, 0065<strong>

* * *

><p>Out of all the things that Megane would have liked to do with her morning, going to see the doctor didn't even make the list. But some things were more important than her personal desires. And it wasn't as if she could blame anyone but herself for the necessity of an appointment with this particular specialist. Well, she wasn't the only one <span>responsible<span>, but it was ultimately her own fault for not stopping things before they got this far. She had had plenty of chances to do that if she so chose.

"Everything seems to be fine," announced the doctor as she examined the information provided by the technomagical tools at her disposal. "But I have to caution you, the sort of strenuous physical and magical activities you continue to do will only carry more and more risk as time passes. I strongly recommend that you request leave, or at least transfer to a noncombat post for the next six months or so."

Megane shook her head. "I can't leave my team in the lurch like that. I'll stick to deskwork as much as possible, but my work is too important for me to just leave."

The doctor sighed. "I can't force you to follow my advice. But please, just take it easy."

"I'll do my best," Megane promised.

"That's all I ask," said the doctor genially. "No new symptoms?"

"No, thankfully." Megane said with a little grin. "I can't even begin to describe how relieved I am not to have to suffer through morning sickness."

"Well, with luck it will stay that way." Giving Megane a scrutinizing look, the older woman continued. "Have you made any decisions about how you intend to handle the last month or so?"

Megane fidgeted guiltily. "I… want to involve my coworkers in this… but there just never seems to be a good opportunity to tell them."

"It's your decision how you handle it," the doctor said supportively. "You are only just starting to show, so you still have some time before your mobility is impaired, and it is definitely possible, though not preferable, to manage alone. But regardless, it doesn't hurt to start planning ahead. Try to rearrange your home and your workspace to minimize the amount of bending over, twisting, and stretching you need to do. If you have trouble doing something with a pillow under your shirt, then you should think of alternative solutions."

"I'll get started on that when I get the chance." Megane agreed, then sighed. "I'm sorry I'm making this so hard for you. I really don't intend to ignore your advice, but the work I do is too important for me to just step aside for the next six months."

"I've dealt with worse patients in the past." The older woman smiled. "The goal is to make this as safe, easy, and comfortable for you and your child as possible. I can give advice, but you have to live through this yourself. My job is to make sure that you have all of the information you need to make informed decisions, and help you through any complications that arise. Every patient has different needs, and I work with that, not against it."

Megane would have preferred to be scolded, as the supportive response left her to poke holes in her own reasoning. Or lack thereof. Realistically, her teammates were on her side, no matter what. Zest and Quint would be nothing but supportive, they were dependable that way. She would be forbidden from fighting until after she gave birth, but that wasn't really a problem. After all, she wanted her child to be safe. It was just… never the right time. There had never been a good chance. …In the last three months.

Yeah, nice work, Megane, she mocked herself. But don't worry! I'm sure your investigator friends won't notice any time soon!

"Thank you for all of your help," Megane said.

"Oh, no need to thank me yet. We still have a while to go." The doctor smiled at her. "Shall we wrap things up for today? I know you have a busy schedule."

"Ah, thank you. My schedule is a bit in flux at the moment, but I'll call you in a few days to set up our next appointment."

She would tell them tomorrow. It wouldn't be good to put additional stress on the team today. Everyone needed to be at their best. Tomorrow. She would tell Quint tomorrow.

* * *

><p>Consciousness came slowly and painlessly to Yuuno as he woke up. He took a few seconds to put his jumbled memories into something that made sense. Evidently whatever painkillers Kyouya had dosed him with were rather strong. He had thought he had been out of it, but a clear mind revealed that he had actually been really, really out of it. Fortunately, it didn't seem to have had any prolonged side effects.<p>

"Are you feeling better?"

The tentative question came from Fate, who was the room's only other occupant. Since the world wasn't hurting anymore, Yuuno turned to face her and gave her a smile and a nod, earning a visible exhalation of relief from his friend.

"Arf, Nanoha and her father, Signum, and Shamal are out in the dojo right now. Shamal is examining us to make sure that we don't have any medical problems related to magic." Fate spoke tentatively, but continued at Yuuno's silent encouragement. "I was first, now it is Nanoha's turn. Whenever you feel ready we can go and join them."

Fate looked unusually tired and stressed, Yuuno noted as she spoke. It didn't feel right, and it took Yuuno a few seconds to realize what was bothering him. It was the first time Yuuno had ever seen Fate look troubled. It was understandable that she felt that way, but she had never looked like that before, even during the intensely emotional events on the Garden of Time.

Was this his fault?

Yuuno didn't let his worry show as he gingerly climbed out of bed, half-expecting for pain to surge with each motion. Gaining confidence when that did not occur, he headed out towards the dojo with Fate silently following him. As Fate had warned him, Signum was there, locked in a 'not-glaring-at-each-other' contest with Arf. Nanoha's father stood to one side, and smiled as he noticed Yuuno's approach.

Shamal was frowning as she cast a spell on Nanoha. "This makes no sense. What is this?"

"Is there something wrong?" Nanoha's father asked.

"Not as far as I can tell. Her linker core is just… shaped funny. It works normally though, so I don't think it is a problem." Shamal shrugged helplessly. "Do you have any rare skills?" She asked Nanoha.

Nanoha scrunched up her face in confusion, and Yuuno answered her question before she asked. "A rare skill is an ability that can't be taught to another mage easily, if at all, unlike most spells which can be taught to anyone who uses the same magical system as the teacher. They can be unique or simply very uncommon, but it is a valuable special ability regardless. To the best of my knowledge, you don't have one."

"Yuuno!" Nanoha cried delightedly. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, I'm not hurting anymore." He turned to Shamal. "Thank you for helping me."

"It was nothing." Shamal shook her head. "Besides, until you put your linker core to the test I can't say for certain that you are healed completely."

"Do you feel up to trying to use magic again?" Shirou asked, and Yuuno was pleased by the honest concern in his voice. Yuuno nodded decisively in response, wanting to get it over with as soon as possible.

To Yuuno's relief, it was an easy, painless process to perform what he mentally dubbed 'the world's most useless attack spell.' He shoot the small ball of green light forward and watched it dissipate to nothing a foot or so away. It seemed he was back to normal.

"It seemed to work perfectly up until you shot it," Shamal said concernedly. "I'm not sure why it didn't work."

Yuuno felt his face flush. "It did work." He snapped. "I just don't have a talent for shooting magic. That was normal."

Shamal had the good sense to leave it at that, and Yuuno ignored the inquisitive look Nanoha gave him. Quickly running some kind of advanced diagnostic spell, Shamal gave him a clean bill of health. (He wanted to learn that spell, it was awesome. A full check-up in under a minute using only one spell? Amazing.) Yuuno vaguely noted Shamal moving towards Arf, probably for her check-up, but gave his attention to Nanoha and Fate.

Nanoha looked red-eyed and tired, but she also looked buoyantly happy that everyone was okay. Fate looked to be in a similar state, but there was a twitchiness and a weariness to her form that made him worry. Yuuno didn't know how to help her, but he could show his appreciation for how the two of them had helped him by bringing Shamal to heal him. So that was what he did.

"Thank you. Both of you." He managed a small smile. "Sorry to worry you like that."

And Fate broke into tears. Yuuno felt panic setting in as Fate sniffled quietly, droplets rolling down her cheeks in spite of her best efforts to wipe them away. She fell to her knees and began to sob as he and Nanoha rushed up to her.

Crouching down at Fate's side, Yuuno followed Nanoha's mouthed instructions and pulled Fate close, letting her bury her face in his shoulder, which soon became wet with tears. The three of them huddled together in an awkward group hug which soon put a painful pressure on Yuuno's poorly positioned legs, but he ignored it. This was the first time, to the best of his knowledge, that Fate had cried since the Garden of Time. In fact, she hadn't cried then either. She had just been holding in all of those feelings, acting as though they didn't affect her.

He couldn't even imagine what she felt right now. Her family was gone, his was still alive. In fact, he imagined he was the one who was going to be given a funeral at some point. He wasn't going to see them again for years.

An odd sensation of wetness occurred on his cheeks, and when Yuuno blinked his eyelashes clung together strangely. Looking over Fate's shoulder at Nanoha, he saw that she was crying.

And then he was crying too.

* * *

><p>Arf smiled, her link to Fate allowing her to sense her charge's rampant emotions. Fate considered herself to be safe, so Arf decided to let it play out. Fate needed to strengthen her bonds with those around her more than she needed Arf's presence.<p>

"I don't recall saying anything funny or pleasing." Shamal said sharply. Throwing her arms up, the knight scowled. "I suppose there's nothing to be done." She shook her head. "You know, when I first saw you I compared you to Zafira, but there really is a difference between guardian beasts and familiars. The MidChildan method is so… temporary. To create a living being under a contract that terminates their existence once the terms are completed is repugnant to me."

"For most familiars it only retracts their sapience and boosted magical abilities," Arf pointed out. "My creation was in no way normal. My original body was…" She tapped her finger against her chin, considering how to put it. "Very, very close to death. And my contract was formed after the fact, since Fate hardly knew what she was doing. I helped craft the terms of it. I'll survive until I die, or Fate dies. I could shut my link with Fate down to almost nothing and leave, and suffer no negative consequences. I choose not to."

"It is the idea itself that is so wrong." Shamal argued. "In Belka, the creation of a guardian beast was an event of great importance. Years of effort would be spent crafting the consciousness, bestowing strength and prowess, teaching the fledgling intelligence of the purpose for their creation, instructing them in all manner of subjects. A guardian beast was practically the child of their creator, and treated with the utmost respect." Shamal shook her head. "In comparison, creating a familiar seems to involve picking up an animal and shoving enough mana into it, then removing the mana when the familiar's work is done."

"Well, I suppose it depends on the purpose and on the master." Arf gave Shamal a sly look. "I imagine it is the same for you and your friends, whatever you are. I would never have noticed in combat, but sitting here I get the feeling that you aren't quite as… real as a human being. I can enhance my senses, and my hearing is telling me that your heartbeat is at exactly 60 beats per minute and never deviates in the slightest. That isn't natural."

Shamal met her eyes impassively, not offering any details. Which was as good as a confirmation, really.

"Of course, the way you just showed up, fanatically serving a random little girl in a wheelchair holding a rather nice book, was a rather big clue as well." Arf smiled. "Ah, but it really is sad. See, I could die happily today, knowing that Fate would be okay. Every moment I am alive is a gift, nothing more. And I'm not bound to Fate's will, otherwise I would be drying her tears rather than letting her new friends do it."

Now's the test, Arf thought. What will you do, I wonder?

"Of the two of us, you are the one to be pitied."

"Really." Shamal said coolly. "I don't quite see that."

"Then I suppose you could tell me why you are here playing doctor?" Arf said as sweetly as she could. "Is it because you want to help us… or is it because Hayate wants you to help us?"

"…There is no reason it can't be both." Shamal responded. "I don't see any point to this discussion."

Aaaand there it is, Arf sighed inwardly. You really don't know, do you? You've never even stopped for an instant to wonder if you have free will. And the moment someone questions it, you stop being philosophical and start feeling uncomfortable. Of course, that isn't proof, but still…

"Considering the ridiculous amount of power you and your friends have, I'd say that your motives are very much relevant to me." Arf said as if she were discussing the weather. "From what I've seen, Hayate is a sweet little girl, so I wouldn't be too worried if she held your leash. So you are right, it doesn't really matter, does it? If you want to leave, go ahead. Go tell Hayate the good news about Yuuno's recovery."

Arf purposefully looked away from the knight and waited until Shamal stood up. She hoped that Shamal wasn't going to rip her in two for this…

"But just one quick question before you go: Are you serving Hayate because she's a sweet little girl who deserves to be protected, or because she's holding that book?"

Arf winced as the door slammed shut on her final words. Shamal hadn't even waited for her to finish her question, though Arf was certain Shamal had heard it. When she could no longer hear Shamal's footsteps, she turned around slowly, and released the breath she was holding in. Arf leaned back against the wall, feeling exhausted.

"Well, at least she didn't kill me for my insolence." She murmured, a bitter smile tugging at the sides of her mouth. If only she could ask for Linith's advice… but now, as always, that was impossible.

"I wonder if she'll thank me later…"

Somehow, she doubted it.

* * *

><p>Megane kept her legs relaxed as the light faded, allowing her to absorb the millimeter drop to the floor without stumbling. The regulations-mandated safety clearance for teleporting had thrown off her balance the first time she experienced it, but now she easily stepped forward with Quint and Zest to clear the way for incoming travelers.<p>

"Investigators?"

The query came from a young man in a uniform crisp enough to make Lieutenant General Gaiz's aide cry with envy. Berating herself for the thought, Megane stood at parade rest behind her commanding officer. What was that girl's name anyway? Auris, that was it. She couldn't remember if that was her first name or her last name though. Not wanting to miss anything, she turned her attention to the teenager once more.

"I am Enforcer Chrono Harlaown, assigned to the Non-Administered Planet 97 case. If you will follow me to the briefing room we can begin."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**Okay, so this chapter was mostly from two viewpoints, Yuuno's and Megane's.**

**There were reasons that I chose them. For Yuuno, it was because he was the center of the action on Earth. For Megane, it was because I wanted to give some insight into how I am treating the personality of (mostly)-pre-Lutecia, pre-JS Incident Megane Alpine. So wait, her personality was affected by those events? Yes. Character development is more than just a plot device, you know. It actually happens to people. She's one of them.**

**Also, because I wanted to get the revelation that she is pregnant out of the way sooner rather than later. You're welcome. I wasn't stringing it out, just so you know. The reason it isn't said outright until later in the chapter is that Megane isn't constantly thinking 'I'm pregnant'. Like many people, she has a lot going on in her life, so she is more focused on how being pregnant affects all of those things than on the fact that she is going to have a baby. Pregnancy is just one of several important things on her mind, though for obvious reasons she will be more focused on the baby (who, yes, is Lutecia, who is born in 0065 according to the official timeline) when she gets closer to giving birth.**

**Lutecia's origins are a bit of a mystery. Her father is unspecified, although her father figure is definitely Zest Grangeitz, which has made Zest a popular choice for her biological father. But hey, Fate's father doesn't rate a mention either, and no I don't consider Jail a viable candidate even if he did literally help make her.**

…**I just reread that, and I would like to state that I was comparing Lutecia's father being unspecified with Fate's father being unspecified, not comparing Zest's and Jail's roles as parental figures.**

**Quint Nakajima, mother of two-plus-a-few-more-sort-of-maybe, had the strange luck of being unable to have children (to her disappointment), having her DNA used in experiments (without her knowledge, though it presumably creeped her out when she found out), and getting two daughters out of the deal (Which was a pleasant surprise when she rescued them from the facility they were in. But I have to wonder, are they her clones or her daughters? If they are her daughters, who was the father? Genya or someone else? You guys just have to read and review. I have to think about stuff like this all the time. You guys ****so**** get the better end of the deal.) **

**She taught her elder daughter Ginga everything Ginga knows, died (leaving her husband Genya to take care of the two) and Ginga taught Subaru everything Subaru knows. But none of that has happened because I'm writing this story, not canon. We shall see what happens in the future.**

**Strike Arts is the MidChildan way of saying 'any of about a billion different fighting styles involving your fist and your opponent's face'. Basically, martial arts for mages. It involves the use of some magic, but not nearly as much as, say, Nanoha's method of fighting. For more details, read ViVid. Both Quint and Megane are good at it, but Quint is particularly talented. She has a special skill, 'Unchain Knuckle', which is basically Yuuno's worst nightmare, and has an explanation that wouldn't be out of place in one of those mangas about martial artists that can punch through a bank vault door.**

**Why did all of the kids start crying? Are they sad? Happy? Well… both, I guess. But if you are asking that question, you are on the wrong track. This has more to do with catharsis, which vaguely means emotional release in the language of English professors. I won't go further into it, but I will say that if you don't know why they have pent up emotions, you should go through the last couple of chapters and see the parts where they worked through their problems.**

**Yeah, you'll be looking for a while.**

**Now I could tell you all about what Arf was doing at the end, or about Zest's character, or how things are going with the Wolkenritter. Or I could, just, you know, write the next chapter. Which will probably have some of that stuff in it. I can't say for sure, because I haven't written it yet. (Although I have started on the first scene, so I can technically say that I haven't finished it yet, but that would be misleading.)**


	9. Chapter 9: Growing Pangs

**Confession time: I've had the rough draft of this ready for a little under two weeks. Sadly, the rewriting was a little more intensive than usual and the Olympics is awesome, so… well anyway it's out now and that's what matters right? This chapter isn't one of my favorites, but it has plot in it. Don't worry, I won't be going at this slow pace forever. Once I've done what I need to do I can start to hit the fast-forward button.**

**I am, however, very sorry that I haven't responded to many of your reviews. The first few reviews for the previous chapter I read and responded to fairly quickly, but I honestly haven't done more than skim the others. Thank you for all of your support, and I'll try to work my way through the reviews sooner rather than later. I feel that maintaining communication with my readers helps me improve the story and my writing, so I dropped a fairly important ball there.**

**Well, here's the chapter. It picks up about five seconds after the last one ends, but from Zest's point of view. As such, the chapter name is similar. (Also, I was having trouble thinking of a new one.) Please let me know if you spot any plot holes!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 9: Growing Pangs<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Monday, June 2, 0065<strong>

* * *

><p>Zest Grangeitz knew his flaws quite well. Among the most prominent were his social skills and his technical prowess, or rather the lack thereof. His success lay in his combat ability, his observational skills (when not in a social setting) and his knack at surrounding himself with talented comrades that could make up for his weaknesses. Zest found it mildly baffling that his ability to put a hole in a steel wall was considered more important to his success than the contributions of his subordinates.<p>

Fortunately, Regius understood that. If Zest had been separated from his team for the upcoming headache… Well, no reason to worry about what hadn't happened.

As he followed Enforcer Harlaown into the briefing room, Zest scrutinized those already present. There were three people in the room, only one of which Zest immediately recognized. Admiral Crowbel was one of the three admirals who had ushered in the current era, a living legend. In a way, it was a relief to see her, as her presence very neatly resolved the question of who was in charge. But it also meant that this case was being treated very seriously.

And once again, it raised the question: Why was he here, when the navy had plenty of enforcers to deal with the investigation?

As he saluted, Crowbel nodded seriously. "At ease. Thank you for coming so promptly. I realize that this is very unusual, but circumstances dictate our response, not the reverse. Take a seat and we can commence."

Zest complied, his team flanking him. Harlaown sealed the door and took a seat beside a green-haired admiral on Crowbel's left. The woman smiled at Harlaown, who pretended not to notice. Interesting.

Seated on Crowbel's right was an older, male admiral. The man's bearded visage was creased lightly by wrinkles at the edges of his eyes and mouth, and his features were shadowed in a way that suggested he had been sleeping poorly. Zest's first thought was that the man was out of place, but he couldn't say why. Zest frowned inwardly. Such baseless feelings were nearly useless. Only when the cause of the feeling was consciously identified could he begin to draw conclusions.

The lights dimmed as Crowbel activated a projection above the table. A small blue world, splashed with brown and green landmasses, shimmered into view, rotating slowly.

"You will be able to examine all of our information later, but for now allow me to give you a quick overview." Crowbel summoned data screens for Zest and his team to peruse with a wave of her hand. "This is Non-Administered Planet 97, 'Earth'. Population as of last week estimated at 7.2 billion. A completely non-magical world, with a large number of divided nation-states in a somewhat stable equilibrium. Use of mass-weapons is prominent in conflicts, but nuclear arsenals are not used in warfare due to fear of destroying the planetary biosphere. The more developed nation-states have advanced technology based around electronics and the use of fossil fuels for power." Crowbel paused.

"It is, unfortunately, believed to be the center of the dimensional dislocation that occurred last week. I am told that there is a chance that there may be survivors, but…" Crowbel sighed. "Well, I'll let Admiral Harlaown explain the problem as she is more knowledgeable than myself in this area. Admiral, if you would?"

The projection changed, showing a three-dimensional map. A dot labeled 'Earth' sat in the center. Other dots representing various worlds were arranged around it. The greenish-haired admiral, who Zest strongly suspected was related to the young enforcer, began to speak.

"If it was possible, we would want to have forces in position over Earth, both to discover what happened and to render aid." Admiral Harlaown manipulated the projection as she spoke. "However, the dislocation has crippled our ability to reach the site. This is a rough model, but it should give you an idea of what we have to deal with. This," she highlighted a region with a red mist, Earth at the center with a few other dots on the edge of the cloud, "is the space in which dimensional space is too dangerous for our ships to pass through safely. As you can see, it isn't too large from this perspective. It doesn't impede us significantly in reaching any of the administered worlds, and there are no other inhabited worlds in the red region either.

"Outside of this," she highlighted a larger area with a yellow mist which encompassed a dozen or so locations, "is the region in which civilian transportation is impossible. We have been forced to allocate several ships to these areas to resolve this issue. Our vessels are sufficiently shielded that the yellow region is no significant danger to them. Trade will remain severely impeded for a few months, after which we believe the civilian dimensional transfer stations can resume operation."

"Is it possible to reach Non-Administered Planet 97 if we don't pass through dimensional space?" Quint asked.

In response, Admiral Harlaown selected Earth and a region just outside of the red mist. "This map is a representation of the distance between worlds via dimensional space. It takes perhaps an hour to travel between these two points under normal circumstances. However, the distance through normal space is much larger. Are you familiar with the distance limits of teleportation?"

Quint shook her head. Zest couldn't recall it exactly, as it had been years since he had learned about it and there had never been much use for the knowledge since.

Megane had somewhat of a better idea, with her more frequent use of movement magic. "Ten, twenty light-seconds, for me. Maybe as much as a light-minute if I really push it. I imagine a navy ship could do a couple of light-hours, what with its power reserves. It gets exponentially more power-intensive with distance, so I usual switch to a dimensional transfer spell if I need to transport someone a really long way."

"Exactly," Admiral Harlaown nodded. "If we used the entirety of an L-class ship's power supply, we could do a one-way teleport of about 60 light-hours, which is a huge distance from our perspective. But on an interstellar scale, that's nothing. To reach Earth through normal space, the shortest route is this."

As a golden line extended out from the start position towards Earth, the map unfolded to represent the distance along the skein of three-dimensional space. Or perhaps four-dimensional, but Zest didn't much care one way or another which group of physicists had the right of it. The line grew, and the map unfolded. And unfolded. And unfolded. By the time it stopped, the golden line was longer than the table they sat at, far longer than the few inches separating the two points in the initial representation.

"The distance through normal space is a little over two light-years." Admiral Harlaown said. "As such, we will be able to determine if Earth has been able to maintain a civilization capable of their former levels of EM radiation-based communications after about two years via a sensor we placed a few days ago. But our ships don't have the power or the supplies necessary to make a journey to Earth through normal space. I've been told that we need another month or so before we can put together a definitive timeline, but current estimates say that it would take decades to build a ship capable of making the journey, whereas travel through dimensional space will be safe a few years from now."

In other words, space is huge, we are small, and we won't be able to reach the crime scene for a few years, Zest translated. Which was completely understandable and unavoidable, but really brought the investigation to a screeching halt. Zest was at a bit of a loss as to where to go from here, but hopefully they had some leads to go on or this was going to be an exercise in futility.

"With no way to reach the crime scene, we would be left clueless were it not for a circumspect bit of luck." Admiral Harlaown continued.

Zest suppressed a smile. If nothing else, the admiral knew how to structure a presentation. He hadn't even had to ask.

"Earth is, or at least was, a world that had no knowledge of magic. For this reason, we believe that either an immensely powerful Lost Logia was accidentally activated, or, more relevant to us, a criminal from a different world is responsible."

Quint's eyes lit up. "Which means that we could track them down from this end," she concluded.

"They would probably need magical supplies, things they couldn't obtain on Earth," Megane said, following the train of thought. "They could have left some kind of trail."

Admiral Crowbel nodded. "Indeed. Of course, I don't expect you to find that by yourselves. I intend to have the entire Bureau keeping an eye out for anything related to Earth. Once something turns up, that is where you come in. You'll be based aboard the _Arthra_, Admiral Harlaown's ship, for the duration of the assignment. It is a bit of a strange arrangement, but what it really comes down to is that you'll have some added protection from the media and an Arc en Ciel if you need firepower."

And, of course, they would be answering directly to the navy and not to Regius, Zest concluded. Which was probably the entire point.

"Enforcer Harlaown will escort you over there after we are done, and Admiral Harlaown will explain in detail how this is going to work later." Admiral Crowbel informed them. "Sadly, I'm a busy woman and there is still one more thing for you to learn about before we're done, so I'll ask you to hold any questions about that for later." The elderly woman nodded to the other admiral, the man who had not yet been introduced.

"My name is Admiral Gil Graham." The man said. "And the other reason you are here is to investigate me."

Zest had a feeling he wasn't going to like this.

* * *

><p>Momoko padded into the kitchen, leaving the exhausted children to crash in Nanoha's room. Shirou handed her a cup of tea, and she flashed him a quick smile in thanks.<p>

After a brief silence, Kyouya coughed lightly. "So, forgive me if this is a stupid question, but what was that all about?"

Momoko felt the corners of her mouth twitch up. "Yuuno apologized."

Kyouya blinked. "For what?"

"Exactly," Momoko said brightly, then decided to take pity on her son. "Fate blames herself for Yuuno's injury, since he was hurt because of her mother's actions. Yuuno saw she was troubled because of him, and apologized."

"And thanked her," noted Arf with amusement.

"And thanked her." Momoko smiled.

Momoko could practically see the gears turning in Kyouya's head. "She started crying… because Yuuno was nice to her?" He asked dubiously.

"It's a bit more complicated than that, but pretty much," Arf shrugged. "I could feel her going through a real rollercoaster. Once she started crying, she didn't stop until she'd cried everything out."

Kyouya massaged his forehead. "This is just one of those things, isn't it?"

"Emotional responses are rarely rational," Shirou said as he finished his tea. "And nobody feels things quite the same way-"

"You aren't going to give another one of your little philosophy classes now, are you?" Arf groaned. "Sheesh!"

"I feel so unappreciated…" Shirou sniffed. He cast a pleading look in Momoko's direction. "You still love me don't you?"

Momoko giggled. "Of course, dear. You're too cute to not love." She gave her husband a kiss on the cheek and he immediately brightened up. But before things got too far off-topic, Momoko figured she should get it over with. "Arf, do you think it would help Fate to talk to someone?" Momoko suggested tentatively.

"You can say 'therapy'." Arf said bluntly. "But… I don't know. She's been doing pretty well without it and I'm kind of leery about involving an outsider. There are a lot of questions we couldn't answer and, well, lying to a trained psychologist would be a lot harder than lying to a bunch of sleep-deprived hospital interns. And the last thing Fate needs is to be publicly known as a mage." Arf grimaced. "She couldn't handle that kind of attention. And I'd be lying if I said that I'm not at least a little worried about ending up on someone's dissection table."

"We haven't asked," Shirou spoke carefully, "but we can draw conclusions as well as anyone. And abuse can leave lasting scars."

Arf growled reflexively, but remained silent.

"We want to help," Momoko said, "but beyond accepting her and caring for her we can't do much. We don't know how to help her heal."

"You are already doing a lot," Arf argued, but Momoko could see her wavering. "…What did you have in mind?" Arf said reluctantly.

"I was thinking we could ask Shamal." Arf's ears twitched at the name, Momoko noticed. "With any luck she'll be able to help, or at least give us advice."

Arf rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "We, ah, might want to give it a couple days. You know, so we aren't imposing."

Momoko and Shirou exchanged glances, their finely honed parental instincts screaming at them. Out of the corner of her eye, Momoko saw her son facepalm.

"So, Arf," Momoko said kindly, carefully setting aside her tea to give the familiar her undivided attention. "How did your check-up go?"

* * *

><p><span>"The familiar's words are troubling you."<span>

It wasn't a question. Signum knew, just as Shamal knew that it didn't bother Signum. It was the blessing and curse of Belkan telepathy. The direct link from mind to mind was capable of conveying complete mental states, and while in enemy territory the Wolkenritter would never let go of any advantage, however slight, for reasons as paltry as 'privacy'. Not that the Takamachi household or a park could truly be considered enemy territory, but it wasn't exactly allied territory either. And even allies couldn't be trusted implicitly.

Shamal tapped her fingers on the seat of the bench as she waited for a family to walk out of hearing range so she could talk out loud, which she found more emotionally satisfying even if it was inefficient. Using the park allowed them to avoid disrupting the harmony of Hayate's home (or rather, apartment) but it meant that they had to watch out for prying ears. Once the danger was past, she spoke.

"It shouldn't bother me." Shamal grumbled. "I haven't killed or maimed anyone this time. I've done more healing than harming. Our Mistress is a kind girl rather than a warlord. This is the best incarnation I can remember."

"But it does." Signum stated calmly.

Shamal fidgeted as she tried to put her thoughts into words. "You like Hayate." She said. "You don't act any different from how you would if you hated her, of course, but I know you liked her almost immediately. You always make snap judgments, but that's fast, even for you. Why?"

Signum considered that for a little while. "She wants the three of you to be happy," the knight decided.

Shamal smiled and shook her head in bemusement. Anyone else would have said 'us', but Signum was… Signum. The smile faded, the corners of her mouth tugged down by her heavy heart.

"Considering what we normally do to helpless little children with strong magical powers, I'm not so sure we deserve to be happy." Shamal whispered.

Signum didn't flinch at the reminder. "It doesn't matter whether or not we deserve anything," Signum rebuked Shamal gently, or at least tried to. "Our Mistress's will is our will. If She wishes us to kill, we kill with all our strength. If She wishes us to guard, we will guard with all our might. If She wishes for us to be happy, we will do our best to seek happiness. Regardless of what we deserve, we have no right to make our Mistress sad."

And to Signum, that was that. Shamal sighed. "I envy that certainty."

The Knight of the Sword shook her head. "…Perhaps I am not the best person to discuss this with. I must admit that I can at times be… inflexible… in my views."

Shamal hid a smile. That was one way to put it. "Thank you all the same. I will not let it affect my performance."

Signum stood, but Shamal hesitated to follow suit. "Signum… do you feel as though we've been overlooking something?"

"What do you mean?"

The Knight of the Lake frowned. "…I'm not sure. I just… I don't know. It's as if… as if I am missing something obvious, something important. I've been having that sort of feeling from time to time, like there's a joke and I can't understand the punch line. Sometimes around Hayate, and today with Arf…" She cut herself off. "It probably isn't important. We should go back to the apartment. Hayate is waiting."

"Yes. She will be upset if we are late." Signum agreed.

* * *

><p>"Well, I suppose it makes sense," the Investigator (Alpine, Chrono thought) said absently as she rummaged through a box of supplies. "It would be bad if word got out about an investigation into the admiral. People want someone to blame, and the media would lynch him, guilty or not. There would be a big backlash against the navy, too. Quint, have you seen the cup that I keep my pens in?"<p>

"Yeah, I've got it here." Nakajima answered, handing over the mug. Chrono suspected it may have once been white, but it had apparently accumulated enough dust to be stained a grayish tone. Not surprising; there wasn't much use for pens or paper in the office these days. It was probably more sentimental than anything.

Alpine thanked Nakajima and put the cup on the desk. She searched through her box for pens and pencils and deposited them in the cup as she found them. "I can understand that they need an impartial group to do the investigation, but I don't like being put on the spot like this."

"If anyone can be considered impartial," muttered Nakajima as she put a small framed family photo on her new desk. Chrono snuck a peak, spying two girls and who he guessed was Nakajima's husband. He winced. Two daughters... She was probably more than a little upset with Admiral Graham at the moment.

"Don't be too hard on him," Chrono said quietly. "He may have planned to do something horrible, but… I don't think he would have gone through with it."

"Why do you say that?" asked Alpine. Chrono relaxed a little, glad that the investigators seemed to be fairly level-headed. "He definitely had it all planned out."

"Planning and doing are two different things." Chrono pointed out. "I'm not going to involve myself in the investigation into him, I freely admit that I'm more than likely too close to be objective, but I've known him my whole life. He isn't nearly as ruthless or calculating as he wants you to think he is."

"Why would he want us to think badly of him?" asked Nakajima skeptically. "We won't be convicting him of anything without solid evidence, but if he's playing up his villainy like you seem to be suggesting he's trying to shoot himself in the foot."

Chrono grimaced. "Exactly. Honestly, he isn't really in good shape right now. He's always been the sort to blame himself for things that go wrong, regardless of whether or not he's actually responsible. And after what he's just been through… I'm not sure that survivor's guilt really covers it." Chrono shook his head. "I'm not making excuses for him, but…"

"Don't worry, we'll give him a fair chance, same as we would for anyone else," Nakajima assured him. "He might be a potential criminal, but he's also a victim."

"Indeed." Grangeitz's gruff voice caused Chrono's heart to skip a beat. The man was so quiet compared to his two subordinates that Chrono had nearly forgotten the knight was in the room. "It is not our place to judge, but to seek truth."

There were a few minutes of relative silence as the Ground Forces team finished setting up their workspace to their liking, then Nakajima spoke up again. "Hey, Harlaown," she said. "I've been wondering. Why are you on this case?"

Chrono blinked. "What do you mean?" He said, not quite able to keep the affront from his voice.

Nakajima gave him an apologetic smile. "Well, from what I gather, they couldn't have found an enforcer with more personal involvement with Admiral Graham if they tried. It just seems like an unnecessary complication."

Chrono couldn't really disagree with that. In truth, he had wondered about that himself, but he wasn't about to go ask Admiral Crowbel what she was up to.

"I suppose it's the same reason that the _Arthra_ is our base of operations for this assignment," Chrono answered, doing his best to hide his own doubts. "The admirals must be hoping that there's some sort of connection between the distortion incident and the dislocation."

"Distortion incident?" Alpine asked, leaning over to pull up the relevant files. Chrono thought that her uniform tugged a little strangely at her stomach as she did so, but Ground Forces' poor tailors wasn't what he needed to focus on at the moment. Well, alternatively she might be… no, this was a combat post so that was impossible. "Ah, found it. Wait, I remember hearing about this! You were involved in it, Harlaown?"

"About as much as anyone on the ship was," Chrono said quietly. He wasn't quite comfortable with talking about it, but this was part of his job, so he'd have to manage. "At this point I'd trust the timeline that we put together more than my memories, but the basic story goes like this. There was… something in the dimensional sea, we still aren't sure what, that was distorting time-space around it. We investigated of course, but nothing we did helped us to identify it. The captain eventually made the decision to approach in the hopes of reaching the source of the distortion. After that…"

Chrono shook his head. "We aren't sure what happened, to be perfectly honest. Our sensory capability was next to nothing within the distortion, so we don't have much to go by. The distortion suddenly started surging. One moment our shields were holding, then the next… part of the _Arthra_ was just… gone. The captain cast a modified barrier spell, which kept us from losing any more people or supplies to the dimensional sea, but we were completely blind until after the emergency systems kicked in. By that time, whatever it was had left somehow, and we limped back to HQ."

"So you think that it's connected to the dislocation?" Nakajima asked.

"Maybe," Chrono sighed tiredly. "I mean, Earth was part of our patrol area, so just going by general proximity and similarity… it's the best we have so far. It might be grasping at straws, but it's the right sort of straw. And I think we all want there to be some sort of connection because that means we might get answers. We lost more crewmembers in one moment than we've lost in the entire time the _Arthra_ has been active…"

Chrono could feel his emotional control slipping. He stopped talking before he choked up and looked down at S2U (when had he pulled it out?) which glowed briefly in acknowledgement of his attention. A large hand landed on his shoulder, and Chrono looked up to see Zest's understanding face.

"Why don't you go check with the bridge crew to see if any tips have come in yet?" Zest suggested with surprising gentleness.

Chrono nodded automatically, and slipped out of the office. It was a weak excuse, but Chrono appreciated the gesture. Chrono hated, hated, hated not being in control of his emotions. It was bad enough when his positive feelings got out of hand, but it was much worse with negative ones because that impacted his work.

The gently curved hallways of the _Arthra_ were quiet as Chrono wound his way towards the bridge; at this time of the afternoon everyone was already at their stations or off duty and magic made the repairmen's work nearly soundless. Chrono relaxed a little, and took his time to soak up the silence as he walked.

Soon enough, Chrono arrived at the nerve center of the ship. His mother wasn't in her chair when he entered the room, so he figured she was probably doing paperwork in her office. Chrono's target was at her station, tapping away at her console, though he couldn't tell what she was doing. He descended the short distance to her.

Amy shot him a tired smile, to which he responded in kind. "Sorry Chrono, nothing yet."

"That's fine." Chrono leaned back against the desk. "At this point we can't control the pace of the investigation. We'll get our first clue when we get it. Really, I should apologize to you for co-opting you into helping."

Amy waved him off. "Oh, it isn't as if I have any other work to do. All of my shiny equipment is useless without anything to use it on. If I wasn't helping you I'd be doing secretarial work for your mom again."

The two of them let a comfortable silence settle for a few moments, then Chrono reluctantly stood back. He couldn't avoid his new colleagues forever, so he might as well get back to them.

Amy's voice brought him to a halt before he got too far.

"Do you think we'll catch them?" Amy said quietly, almost resignedly.

"We'll find them." Chrono promised. "They might be able to hide for a time, but somewhere out there someone has the answers we need. It's only a matter of time."

He didn't turn to face her.

"When I tell myself that… I'm not sure I can believe it." Amy admitted. "But somehow… I think you can do it."

Chrono smiled, warmth blooming in his chest. "No," he said, turning. "We can do it."

Amy smiled back cutely (bad brain, don't go there). "I'll let you know the moment I have something for you," she promised.

"Thanks," Chrono smiled. "I'll see you later."

Amy waved goodbye to him as he left. Not that he looked back to check or anything.

* * *

><p>"We're home!"<p>

Hayate smiled, basking briefly in the pleasure Shamal's words brought her. "Welcome home," she replied completing the ritual. It was a small change compared to the many other changes her life had gone through over the past week, but there was a certain giddiness to the thought that there was someone in her life to exchange phrases with like that. Four someones, at that. Four someones in her new family.

The Book pulsed on her lap, prompting Hayate to pat it reassuringly and tentatively change the number to five. The artifact's sentience was uncertain, but it certainly seemed to have a personality of sorts. Its tendency to float along behind her kind of reminded her of a little puppy.

Thankfully, it had ceased to do so in public after she scolded it.

"How did it go?" Hayate asked.

"Ah, fairly well." Shamal said. "Yuuno seems to have recovered fully, and Nanoha and Fate are healthy. Arf is…" Shamal and Signum exchanged glances. Hayate suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. "…Somewhat belligerent still, but she has mellowed out a little."

"That's good." Hayate smiled. Of course, they weren't telling her something, or rather they were doing something sneaky like changing the emphasis of their words to obscure something. She didn't really mind; compared to the exhaustive reports of their every action she'd been subjected to from time to time during the first couple of days this was preferable. It was actually kind of cute how the Wolkenritter put her on a pedestal, once they had toned it down so that it wasn't obviously fanatical. Hayate still had a ways to go before she achieved her goal of integrating them into society, however.

…It was nice to be treated like a princess from time to time though. Not that she'd ever encourage them by saying that, they might start bowing and scraping again, but still…

"You can tell me all about it during dinner." Hayate decided. "If you don't mind eating a little early, we can start cooking now and have some space for the groceries Zafira is buying. I didn't really plan this out properly," she sighed. "I still keep thinking I have more shelf space than I actually do… But anyway, who wants to help me today?"

A mumble which sounded approximately like 'Food?' came from a futon in the corner. Hayate giggled. "Not quite yet, Vita. A little longer. You can keep napping."

"Wuh?" Vita sat up sharply. "Not napping," Vita denied, her lie betrayed by a yawn.

Hayate giggled again. Vita was just too cute. "If you say so!"

Shamal shuffled around Hayate's wheelchair to reach an apron, and Hayate tapped the Book lightly, prompting it to take to the air. Signum moved out of the way so that Hayate and her trainee chef could have the cramped cooking area to themselves.

Hayate quickly began the process of boiling water, and watched cautiously as Shamal, with intense focus, began peeling. It had taken Shamal several attempts at first (which was several attempts faster than Signum and several slower than Zafira; Vita had yet to manage it) but Shamal now more or less had it down. It took her several seconds, but she soon set aside her first and reached for a second.

Hayate sighed at the sight of the opened cup of instant ramen. Well, everyone had to start somewhere.

…Just a little under a month until her house, and more importantly her kitchen, was fixed. It couldn't come soon enough.

* * *

><p>Miyuki pulled the front door closed behind her with a tired sigh. High School had started back up today and boy were the teachers making up for lost time. Including calculus. <span>Especially<span> calculus. Maybe she could get Nanoha to tutor her.

Her little sister could understand calculus better than she could. Life was so unfair.

"I'm home!" Miyuki called out as she put her bag down. A "Welcome home!" came from the direction of the kitchen, so she started in that direction. Three short figures impeded her way however.

"Hey there, Nanoha." Miyuki said cheerfully, before eyeing Yuuno playfully. "I'd say that it's good to see you on your feet again, but since you are the closest male to a pair of tearstained girls, I'm obligated to assume the worst."

To Miyuki's disappointment, her attempt at humor fell flat. She shrugged mentally; that wasn't exactly one of her best lines anyway. Well, time for big sis Miyuki to step in and cheer the kiddies up!

"Good to see you three up and about again," Kyouya said warmly, stepping out into the hallway just in time to steal her thunder. "If you feel up to it, we can get some food for you. I imagine you are all rather hungry, having gone without lunch."

"Ah…" Fate flushed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

Kyouya cut her off with a chuckle and mussed her hair affectionately. "No worries. We all need a good cry from time to time. Why don't the three of you run along to the kitchen and help mom get dinner ready?"

Miyuki's annoyance grew as her brother (cousin, whatever) deftly redirected the kids to her mom's (aunt's, whatever) care. As the munchkins rounded the corner, Miyuki expressed her displeasure with a half-hearted punch to Kyouya's shoulder.

Kyouya raised an eyebrow. "What was that for?"

Miyuki glared pointedly. He knew perfectly well. This was her opportunity to be cool and he stole it! "I had it under control," she hissed, not wanting to raise her voice and alert the kids.

"Miyuki," Kyouya said resignedly. "Your ability to deal with children is… not exactly stellar. You are… something of an acquired taste."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Miyuki demanded. "Hey, don't just walk away like that, I'm still talking to you! Get back here and- Don't you shake your head at me! Answer me you jerk!"

* * *

><p>Quint Nakajima enjoyed the little things in life. So she waited until Megane was getting a drink from the water cooler before sidling up to her.<p>

"Seems someone has an admirer," Quint noted casually, smirking when Megane startled.

Megane coughed, trying to get the water back into the right passage. "Don't do that! And what the heck are you talking about?"

Quint rolled her eyes. Megane Alpine: tunnel vision incarnate. And she wondered why it was so easy to sneak up on her. "The kid's been eyeing you from time to time all afternoon. See?" Quint jerked her head in the direction of the desks. Megane turned to look and for a brief moment her eyes met Harlaown's.

Harlaown suddenly regained interest in his notes, and Megane's disposable paper cup died from grievous bodily harm.

"Oh, let it go, girl." Quint rolled her eyes again. "You're a single, good-looking, mature female; he's a male in the throes of puberty. He's being polite, he's not drooling over you, and he's not trying anything funny."

Megane glared darkly at Quint, who blinked. Why was she…? Oh. Oh crap. "Sorry," Quint whispered, averting her eyes. "I didn't mean to… you know."

Megane sighed, her face softening. "Don't apologize. I'll have to get past it eventually. He would want me to." Megane forced a wan smile. "Sorry for being so on edge about it."

Quint awkwardly smiled back. "Do you want to come eat with us tonight?" She offered. "You know that Ginga and Subaru would love to see you again, and you could use some down time."

Megane hesitated, but ultimately shook her head. "Maybe another time. I'm not sure I could handle their enthusiasm right now."

Quint chuckled. "Fair enough. Still, my door's always open to you." Quint patted her friend on the shoulder.

"Thanks." Megane whispered.

Quint smiled. It wasn't great progress, but these things took time. And Quint would be there every step of the way.

* * *

><p>The silence of Megane's small residence was unremarkable.<p>

There was something profoundly sad about that statement.

Megane liked being alone. It was comfortable. Safe. Of course, she wasn't going to be alone for much longer, but that wasn't a bad thing. She'd probably need to find a bigger living space at some point. Yet another thing to add to the list…

"Food, food, food…" Megane murmured. "Here we go." She pulled out some frozen breaded poultry (best not to ask what sort of bird) and got it defrosting on a board with an enchantment on it that sped up the process. She preheated the oven, then sat back and waited.

And waited…

…This was going to be a long, boring night. Maybe she should have taken Quint up on her offer after all…

* * *

><p>"Now remember, use both hands." Genya Nakajima cautioned Ginga as she poured milk. "Very good. Why don't you take those over to the table?"<p>

"Daddy, it looks brown now!" Subaru called from where she was using a stool to keep an eye on the meat.

"Alright," Genya said, helping her down to the floor. "Can you bring me the plates one at a time please?"

"Mm-hmm!" Subaru nodded emphatically, scampering off to grab the first one.

"I've put the drinks on the table," Ginga said proudly. "What should I do now?"

"Knives and forks for everyone," Genya answered. "Here you go Subaru, this one is yours." He put the burger on the plate carefully. "Take your time; we don't want to drop anything."

The front door opening and closing in rapid succession signal Quint's arrival. "I'm sorry I'm late," she gasped out as she rounded the corner. "Don't worry, dinner won't take long- Oh, you are a life-saver." She said thankfully upon seeing that Genya had things well in hand.

"Got caught in traffic?" Genya asked as he served the second plate.

"Yeah, I forgot about the construction." Quint admitted, and gave him a quick kiss before turning her attention to her children. "How was school today?" She asked brightly.

Genya tuned out the babble that ensued (he'd already heard it once) and handled the last two plates himself. "Everyone to the table," he announced.

* * *

><p>"…So both of you should be in the same class as Nanoha, Suzuka and Arisa." Shirou finished. "School won't start back up until Wednesday, so we can get your uniforms tomorrow."<p>

"Don't worry," Nanoha reassured Fate, who was looking noticeably reticent. "It might be a little scary at first, but everyone's nice."

"That reminds me, I need to look over Bardiche." Arf said. "I haven't had a chance to do maintenance yet, and since I'll have to make any replacement parts by hand I need to make sure to keep on top of things."

"Can you show me how to do maintenance on Raising Heart?" Nanoha asked hopefully. "I've put her through a lot lately, but I'm not sure how to help…"

"Well I can show you the basics, but I don't know much about Raising Heart." Arf admitted.

"I can construct a tutorial." Raising Heart suggested.

"Would you?" Nanoha asked. "You've been taking care of me, so I should help take care of you."

"Thank you for your concern. Fortunately, I can perform most repairs so long as my core remains intact, given sufficient mana and time. My upkeep requires minimal resources."

"You know, I should probably start teaching you again." Yuuno said. "You've got combat magic down fairly well, but I focused heavily on that and nothing else. Since we have more free time I can start teaching you more than the basics of barriers and movement magic."

"Can I learn too?" Fate asked tentatively. "I mean, it's fine if you don't want to, but-"

"No, I'd be happy to give you some pointers," Yuuno assured her. "What are you interested in? I can't really help with attack spells but I know a wide variety of support magic."

"Maybe… healing spells?" Fate averted her eyes. "I don't know any, so…"

"Sure," Yuuno said. "It might be tricky with your lightning mana conversion affinity, but I think I can teach you how to use magic to close open wounds at the very least." He turned his attention to Nanoha. "That's actually a really good idea. If everyone knows at least a minor healing spell and some first aid then training would be a lot safer."

Nanoha nodded. "Yeah! Let's do that."

With consensus reached, the conversation petered out, leaving an awkward silence that stretched out for almost a minute.

"So, anyone up for playing some board games before bed?" Shirou asked.

"Board games?" asked Fate. "What sort of games can you play with a board?"

"Why don't we show you?" Shirou said kindly.

* * *

><p>Once the door to Ginga and Subaru's room clicked shut for the third time (the first when they went to bed, the second after the glass of water, and the third after exorcising the monster in the closet) Quint got to relax a little with her husband and trade stories of their days.<p>

Thankfully, there were no dead bodies to talk about today.

"A ship?" Genya asked. "Will you be living there for the duration?"

"No, I don't think so." Quint shook her head. "I'll probably be staying there some of the time, like Zest is tonight, but we're still assigned to the same post as before even though we aren't working there. And if that doesn't tell you this is one huge mess waiting to happen…" She shrugged. "We're just doing all of our work on the _Arthra_ for a variety of political and logical reasons that make my head hurt. At least it simplifies the chain of command a little."

"So you'll be reporting to Admiral Lindy, then?"

"More or less. There are a lot of people involved." Quint sighed. "Admiral Crowbel's is the person we're ultimately answering to, but in practice we're in charge on the ground, Lindy's in charge when we're on the ship, and hopefully we can play well together the rest of the time. It's hard to complain too much though. I like having back-up, and it doesn't get much better than this. Everybody's being reasonable and we haven't run into any jurisdictional pissing contests yet. I guess I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"Well, I think I've got something that will cheer you up a little," Genya said, reaching under the table. "Only took me a couple years but I got it done!" He proclaimed, handing a loosely wrapped object to his wife.

"What's this?" Quint asked as she unwrapped it. "A picture frame? Oh! You it framed it! Thank you!"

The photo showed the team of Zest, Megane, and herself after their first case together. They mostly looked the same, if a little younger. The real difference was…

"Megane…" Quint sighed. "She smiled so much more back then."

"She has had a rough few years, hasn't she?" Genya noted. "How's she been doing lately?"

"Better," Quint sighed. "She isn't depressed, not like she was right after Rob died, but she's still hurting. He was good for her, but… I almost wish she'd never met him. She'd be happier now."

"…He wanted me to help him pick out a ring." Genya said quietly. "He was thinking about proposing. Never got the chance."

"Life can be so unfair sometimes, can't it?" Quint looked at Megane's smiling face. "…So much has happened between then and now. Hard to imagine that it's already been three years."

"She certainly looks different." Genya pointed out.

"How so?" Quint asked. "Actually, now that you mention it, she does doesn't she? Can't quite put my finger on it. Hair's the same, height's the same, uniform's the same… Maybe she's gained a little weight?"

"I doubt it, she works out even more than you do."

"Not so much recently," Quint said absently. "She fights a lot more defensively lately. She's enhanced her barrier jacket, especially around her abdomen, but she doesn't take advantage of it. Always blocks or dodges instead of taking hits, even though she's slower than before. She doesn't drink anymore, which is one good thing."

The two of them stared at the picture for a little longer. Then Quint slowly set it down on the table and stared off into space.

"…What are you thinking?" Genya asked.

Quint stood up. "I'll let you know if I'm right."

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?" Genya asked nervously as Quint put on a coat. "Wait, are you going to visit Megane now? What's your theory that it's so important that it can't wait until tomorrow?"

"Well, it probably could wait," Quint admitted, her eyes sparkling. "But I want to know now!" She grabbed her keys off of the counter.

"Shouldn't you call her first?" Genya asked, but the front door closed on any reply Quint may have made. "Wow. I haven't seen her that excited since Subaru first called her 'Mommy'."

* * *

><p>"Laundry tomorrow, I guess," Megane muttered disinterestedly as she hung her uniform in the closet. She could get another day out of it. After some deliberation, she tossed on a loose tee and some shorts and plunked herself down on her bed to continue her research. She'd crash in a few hours, but it was too early to get to sleep now, so she might as well get some work done.<p>

And it wasn't as if she had anything else-

No, don't go there, she berated herself. You could go visit Quint. You could go join Zest. You could go train. You are here because you decided to have a quiet night alone. Things haven't gone like you hoped they would, but you have it a lot better than a lot of people. There's a reason you are doing this job and it isn't that you are the only one who has problems.

She buried her face in her pillow. "And now I'm giving myself a talk straight out of a self-help pamphlet." She exhaled heavily into the fabric, then rolled over and busied herself calling up viewscreens of the data she had copied into her device (wasting twenty minutes filling out the appropriate forms in triplicate to make it legal).

"Well," she said with false cheer, "time to examine Admiral Graham's tax records for the past…" She flicked through the list of files. "47 years. Joy."

BZZZZ.

Megane blinked. Was that… the doorbell? This late in the evening?

BZZZ. BZZZ.

Megane groaned and closed the file directory, letting the screens vanish. She climbed off of her bed. "I'm coming!" She called as she marched over to the door, grumbling.

BZZ. BZZ. BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

What sort of impatient jerk was at the door? Megane hauled the door open, ready to snarl something uncomplimentary, but stopped when she found herself face to face with…

…Quint.

Megane slammed the door shut, then slowly took a deep breath. Okay. She was cool. She was calm. She was collec-

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ BZZZZZZZZZ-

She opened the door, grabbed Quint's arm, and dragged her inside.

* * *

><p>Megane pinched the bridge of her nose. "You wanted to talk to me."<p>

Quint nodded.

"So rather than calling me, you drove." Megane said, exasperated.

Quint nodded, smiling.

"And proceeded to incessantly mash the buzzer, rather than politely waiting."

Quint was nodding and grinning and bouncing with barely contained enthusiasm. Megane gave into the inevitable. "…Why?"

"CanIbethegodmother?Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleeease?" Quint squealed, then faltered. "Oh, uh, sorry. I meant to ask if you were pregnant first… Why are you laughing?"

Megane gasped for air as she failed to suppress her laughter. "Oh, only you, Quint. Only you."

Quint laughed nervously. "Can I try that again?"

"No, no need," Megane waved her off as she got herself back under control. "And yes. To both questions." She gave her best friend a hug. "I'd never choose anyone else."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong>

**Okay, some of you have wondered why nobody has noticed that Megane is pregnant (at least before now). Because I haven't yet found a good way to make it absolutely clear in the story I will say it now: Megane is not obviously pregnant to a casual observer. Her 'baby bump' is small enough to hide with a loose shirt most of the time, she doesn't have morning sickness, etc., etc. Basically, my point is that her condition is not blatant, and any changes her body has gone through have occurred slowly enough that people who see her on a day to day basis are actually ****less**** likely to figure it out than someone new to the scene. **

**If you don't realize, Quint figured it out (or rather, thought it possible and ran with it) not because Megane looked hugely different, but because she stopped drinking alcohol and changed her fighting style.**

**Also, this means Megane doesn't have to hide it actively. Why she hasn't told her friends is something that will be made clear later (but not too much later).**

**I freely admit that the subplot centered on Megane is something that has developed because I forgot that Lutecia was born in 0065 and I'd already developed a team dynamic that I liked and didn't want to ruin it. (Incidentally, that's also why Zest isn't Lutecia's father.) However I think I've got something that I can work with, and hopefully something that you, the readers, will be at least ambivalent towards. There are still a few more things that I have to reveal to you (not that it's hidden, it's just that there's only so much I can realistically cram into a chapter) so be patient.**

**I know some of you have been hoping for the TSAB to discover Earth's status in the next few chapters. Sadly, that just isn't workable. I've been making an effort to treat this aspect with the perspective it deserves and that perspective is that space is so ridiculously fucking HUGE that without the ability to travel through the 'dimensional sea' travel between worlds is a colossal undertaking at best, a logistical impossibility at worst. **

**For those who haven't figured it out yet (and because I can't remember if I've stated it outright) teleportation does not involve the dimensional sea. Dimensional transfer does. That's why Shamal could teleport to the dojo, but the TSAB can't dimensional shift to Earth.**

**Speaking of the Wolkenritter: They are totally not missing anything important. Shamal is just being paranoid. Honest. Would I lie to you? Don't answer that.**

**For those who are wondering (which is none of you) Momoko Takamachi majored in Child Psychology at the School of Motherhood, just like all mom's everywhere.**

Ok, fair warning, this next part isn't that important. At all. And it may also confuse you. Sometimes it confuses me, too.

**Another thing that doesn't really come up in the story (and in this case probably never will be addressed) is that none of the characters except Bardiche and Raising Heart are actually speaking English. The only characters that speak the language I write are the devices (which is why the only word thus far spoken by the Book of Darkness was in German). You could say that I'm translating (but not literally, which is why you'll see some idioms from time to time). This means that I am trying to represent the various levels of formality embedded in the Japanese language without having a proper equivalent in English. Let's use Chrono, Zest, Megane and Quint as an example to explain what I mean.**

**Quint is the least formal. She feels a close emotional attachment to both Zest and Megane, but not to Chrono. I represent this as follows: She thinks of the others (except Chrono) by their first names and speaks to her team using their first names in most situations, but calls Chrono "Harlaown". Her outgoing personality is also slightly exaggerated, but nobody takes offense because she is being 'informal' rather than 'rude', though I try to make sure I stay on the right side of the line just in case.**

**Megane has emotional attachments to Quint and Zest, but is more formal. She thinks of everyone but Chrono by their first names, and calls everyone but Chrono by their first names. I don't really tweak her personality at all; contrast with Quint is sufficient to differentiate.**

**Zest has emotional attachments to Megane and Quint, but is even more formal. He thinks of everyone but Chrono by their first names, but always calls everyone by their last names. He is also the least likely to use contractions, though I usually don't worry about that.**

**Chrono does not have a strong emotional attachment to the others, and is almost as formal as Zest. He thinks of everyone by their last names, and calls everyone by their last names. He also refers to his mother by rank sometimes. Keep an eye on that; how he refers to Lindy and how he reacts to how others refer to her can sometimes give you insight into his emotional state.**

**Why does this matter? Well… it doesn't most of the time. What I'm trying to say is that since I'm not using honorifics, you need to watch other cues to pick up on some things. You probably won't miss a whole lot if you don't, but keep an eye open just in case. Also, I'm saying that sometimes I can't quite 'translate' it properly. For example, during the scene from Hayate's POV if I were using honorifics I would have used 'Vita-chan' at least once, but I'm trying to be consistent so I didn't even though I couldn't properly represent that in English.**

**The one way in which this whole 'translating' thing comes up the most often is actually related to religion. Specifically, I believe I have yet to use 'hell', 'God', 'Jesus', 'Christ' or 'damn'. Why? Because those are religious words that have crept into the everyday vernacular in my culture, but NOT in Japan's (to the best of my knowledge) or the TSAB's. And since my impression of the whole Saint Church thing is that it's closer to what would happen if England had a church centered on King Arthur than it is to Christianity, I don't use that as a replacement.**

**(To make it clear, this is a device I use to help me. I don't actually write the story in Japanese and then translate it to English.)**

**And now you know.**


	10. Chapter 10: TSABOPINST 60001 d

**Yes, I'm still alive. Here's Chapter 10. There was some technical world-building stuff I had to get to my satisfaction, which is why it took so long. Also college. Then, after typing it up, I spent two to three weeks picking away at it to try to get it 'right'. I'm not sure it's as good as it could be (probably not), but I needed to publish it eventually, so enjoy, and if you spot any plot-holes please point them out for me.**

**Also, before I forget (again), thanks to Keimarios for recommending this fanfic on TVTropes. And thanks for everyone in general for their support.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 10: TSABOPINST 6000.1 d<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Tuesday, June 3, 0065<strong>

* * *

><p>"Ooh, ooh, how about George?"<p>

"No, it doesn't feel right."

Zest worked the kinks out of his body as he stood. A couple hours of sleep sounded really good right now.

"Bjor?"

"No. Now put that away, we have work to do."

Zest smiled briefly at the odd banter, then moved in front of the closed door on a whim. He carefully schooled his expression, and waited.

"Come on, just one more~"

"Quint-"

"That's a girl's name, silly! We're doing boy's names."

Zest heard Megane growl and slap the button to open the door. He watched in amusement as the door slid open with neither of the two women aware of his presence. Quint continued to flip through a book, while Megane had her back to him. "Quint can be used as a boy's name." He pointed out.

Megane shuddered, and clutched at her chest. "Wha- Zest! You scared a year of my life out of me!"

Quint giggled, and hefted her armload of books in his direction. "Here, take one and help me out! You can do girl's names," she decided with aplomb.

Bemused, Zest complied, taking a book off the top. "Baby names? Should I be congratulating you, Nakajima?" He knew that she and her husband had been trying for some time before they adopted Subaru and Ginga. Perhaps they had decided to try again with more success-

"Not me, her!" Quint squealed, grabbing Megane by the shoulders.

What.

As Megane eeped and turned red, Zest looked her up and down surreptitiously. She didn't look pregnant. He mentally slapped himself. Of course she didn't. She had probably only found out recently… although he was pretty sure she wasn't seeing anyone at the moment… but she wasn't correcting Quint so…

"Congratulations?" Zest offered tentatively, feeling completely out of his depth. Thankfully Megane, who looked as frazzled as Zest felt, took it with a smile (albeit a stressed one). "When is the baby due?" He asked, as if he hadn't been completely blindsided by this. Well, at least it was a better question than 'So who's the father?'

"December," Megane informed him nervously.

Zest did the math. Three times, just to make sure he hadn't misheard. Three months. Well, now he knew who the father was, but that wasn't important. He'd been leading one of his subordinates into battle for three months without knowing important medical information about one of them…

It had worked out, he reminded himself. But he should have known. It was his job to know about things like this and deal with them. He should have taken precautions, warned the medical personnel… there were probably other things he should have done as well, but he cut the train of thought off early.

He didn't let his self-recriminations show, and instead nodded to Megane and led the way into the workroom. "Nothing new came in last night, so we will continue as we did yesterday."

Quint immediately picked up on the 'we'. "Aren't you going to get some rest, sir?" she asked as she set her books down on her desk.

Zest shook his head. He had intended to, but there was no way he would be able to get any rest until he got some measure of equilibrium back. "I intend to spar briefly with Harlaown this morning to familiarize myself with his skills." And work off some of his newly acquired stress. He nodded to Megane. "We will need to talk further, but I must confess that I need to reread 6000.1 d first. For now we will continue as usual, but I would prefer to have the medical officer's report soon."

Don't overreact, that's the key, Zest knew. Nothing has changed from yesterday, you just know something you didn't before. Wait until you know everything, then decide what changes to make. Balance Megane's safety with her duties. Easy enough in principle.

In practice, he was going to need some advice. Now, there was no way he was going to manage to get some quiet advice from Quint without Megane figuring out what he was doing, so who did that leave?

* * *

><p>"Look on the bright side, at least you found out before the twenty week mark," Admiral Harlaown pointed out, clearly amused.<p>

Zest shot her a dirty look. 'At least she didn't wait until she was obligated to tell you two months from now' wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear. He longed to talk to Regius instead, but over the past few years they had become old acquaintances where once they had been close friends, and there was a painful awkwardness to their meetings these days. Besides, he needed advice now, not whenever he could schedule a meeting.

He was somewhat starved of options; he could hardly recall the last time he had spent his free time with someone he didn't work with. Nakajima was right, he needed to get out more. Unfortunately, his best option at the moment was Admiral Harlaown… who he had known for what, a day? Lindy spoke up again, cutting his moping short.

"So is this your first time dealing with this?" Lindy asked more seriously, trying to get a feel for the situation.

"No, though it has been a while," Zest admitted. "But the problem is less that and more the person in question."

"Megane Alpine, yes?" Lindy asked innocently.

Zest's eyebrows rose. "Yes. How did you know?"

"You could call it feminine intuition," Lindy said primly, then chuckled. "But in all honesty your other subordinate was quite happy to ensure that everyone in hearing range knows. So what in particular is the matter with Investigator Alpine?"

While Zest did want the admiral's advice, he was also very aware that there was only so much he could say without encroaching on his subordinate's, and his friend's, privacy. The wounds were still fresh. So he spoke carefully.

"She will be strongly averse to not being with Nakajima and I during combat."

"Not uncommon," Lindy said. "Many people dislike being sidelined, especially workaholics."

Zest grimaced. "Perhaps I didn't phrase that strongly enough. Let me put it this way: I really need to convince her to cease going on field operations when the medics advise it. Or she will insist on coming with us even if she's nine months pregnant."

Lindy raised an eyebrow. "Surely you're exaggerating. I know that when I had Chrono I was more than happy to not have to chase after criminals for the last few months."

"I'm probably exaggerating, but not nearly as much as I wish I was," Zest said gloomily. "She got better about it for a while, but… recent events have caused the tendency to resurface." He said no more on the subject; while he needed an outside opinion, the downside was that he was speaking to an outsider. "I wouldn't normally mind, but…"

"But you are worried about how the pregnancy might affect her?" Lindy guessed.

Zest snorted. "That's the last thing I'm worried about at the moment. Alpine is more competent when she's drunk than most people are when they are sober, and she's won more than one fight when starting with a debilitating injury. I'm more worried about my ability to lead objectively than her ability to fight effectively."

"Oh?"

"I'd prefer she not fight at all until she has the baby," Zest admitted. "She knows the risks, and unless the rules have changed since I last checked she is allowed to continue serving fully for as long as she is capable and willing. I'm willing to trust her judgment. However, in my opinion her child has no place on the battlefield, and the two of them are going to be inseparable for the next six months. I'm not willing to go so far as to command her to follow my wishes on the matter though."

Lindy sighed. "As much as I hate to say it, sometimes there just isn't a simple answer. You really just need to sit down and talk candidly with her. It won't necessarily be easy, but you should be able to compromise with her." She chuckled a little at the dubious flicker that crossed Zest's face. "She has read the rules too, you know, I can almost guarantee she's thought this out more than you have. I'd be willing to bet that she will be more rational about this than you seem to expect. But all the same, I strongly suggest letting the medics have the first and last word on the matter of her capability."

Let the medics take the heat from her when the time comes. Zest liked that plan.

"And a word to the wise: remember that her life doesn't revolve around her pregnancy, at least not until towards the end when it starts getting in the way, when it gets rather annoying that your life seems to revolve around going to doctor's appointments and wishing the baby would hurry up already. I'm speaking from experience here. I imagine that she will appreciate it if you let it slip into the background most of the time."

Chrono entered the room then, ending the conversation. "Sorry to keep you waiting," he apologized to Zest.

"No need to apologize," Zest rumbled. "I should have informed you of my intentions yesterday." Not that he had known he would be doing this, but he wasn't about to admit that. He rose, and bowed slightly to Lindy. "Thank you for the advice." Such as it was anyway. But she did have a point: Alpine was far from blind to her own faults. And she was a sensible person, most of the time. Maybe he was over-thinking this.

"Oh, it was nothing." Lindy demurred. "Trust yourself. You know her best."

* * *

><p>Hayate's pencil scratched its way across the pad of paper with deliberate speed. The line wasn't perfect, but it didn't need to be. An idea of shape, a hint of texture, don't bother to color. What mattered wasn't the picture on the paper, but the picture in Hayate's head. A hat, a dress. Lace. Bunnies. Red. Lots and lots of red.<p>

Perfect for Vita.

"Okay, I'm ready!" Hayate announced.

If there was one thing Hayate loved about magic (besides her family) it was how utterly awesome doing magic was. Well, she wasn't really, it was more like running a program. The Book was doing the magic. But it looked awesome anyway.

The Book opened, its pages (mostly blank) smoothly and speedily turning.

"**Anfangen."** The Book's feminine yet mechanical voice intoned.

Hayate read aloud from the page The Book stopped on, glancing repeatedly at her drawing and at the real Vita, who stood before her with her eyes closed. As she spoke, a black triangular sigil that glowed white formed beneath their feet, with Hayate at one of the corners and Vita in the center.

"By the authority bestowed upon me as thy mistress, I bestow upon thee this armor."

The image in her mind shimmered as Vita received it, and the Belkan triangle began to spin and flared red as Vita's magic took over. The redhead's pigtails and bangs floated as if in a breeze, and as the glow intensified Vita's clothes sparkled and dissolved and shifted and…

…And then the light flared and receded and just like that Vita was wearing a red dress with lace and a hat with bunnies on it and holding Graf Eisen at the ready.

Hayate managed to suppress her excited squeal, if only just, and gave Vita a moment to examine herself. "What do you think?" She asked, and watched as Vita took off her hat to get a good look at it. "I can get rid of the hat if you think it will get in the way."

"No!" Vita protested, clutching it to her chest, then flushed. "I like it," she said more calmly. "Thanks Hayate." Vita gave Hayate a tentative hug, which Hayate wholeheartedly returned.

"I'm glad," Hayate beamed. "Thank you for your help," she said to The Book, which returned to her arms once Vita left them.

"Does anyone want anything changed?" Hayate asked as she wheeled around to face her other family members.

The knights declined. "I believe I speak for all of us when I say that your work is excellent, Hayate." Signum said.

While she wasn't one to brag, Hayate had to agree. Signum looked regal in her battle dress, the white of the jacket and waist-attached cape and the purple underarmor working well with the segments of muted grey armor plating. Shamal's green and white dress suited her well, as did her cap. And Zafira's blue tank top and baggy pants were simple but effective, much like his metal gauntlets and boots which carried over to his wolf form.

Pretty good work all around, she congratulated herself.

"Well, let's take some pictures!" Hayate enthused, pulling out her phone. "Smile!"

And they did.

* * *

><p>Chrono crouched, tensed. He gripped S2U tightly and ran through Aria's and Lotte's lessons in his mind. Across the room, Grangeitz stood with his spear… glaive… device thing at the ready.<p>

He would have to keep his distance, Chrono knew. His opponent was powerful, experienced, and flight capable. If Grangeitz-

"Start." Grangeitz announced. Chrono immediately flew up and back to give himself more space-

"Full Drive."

Shield! His instincts screamed at him and he listened, but his Round Shield shattered under a single blow from Grangeitz's weapon. The blade, which looked horribly sharp up close, stopped just before it would have sliced him open.

"Finish." Grangeitz announced calmly. "Excellent. Good reflexes and a decent defense." The knight withdrew his weapon.

"E-Excellent?" Chrono stammered incredulously. "But you just- My shield- I barely even saw you move!"

Grangeitz chuckled. "That was my best attack, as strong as I could make it without being unable to stop my swing. I never expected you to win this first round."

"First round?"

The older man nodded. "While informative, this did not teach me much about your abilities," he explained. "The purpose of this was to test your response to a sudden, powerful strike." Chrono frowned in confusion, so Grangeitz elaborated. "The greatest threat to an elite mage like you or I is not a numerically superior foe or a powerful opponent, but an unexpected attack of great strength. It could be an ambush or a desperation attack, or in the worst case scenario an opening salvo from an S-rank or greater mage. Because of the mathematically intensive nature of most common magical systems, it is easy to get used to fighting intelligent, rational enemies that fight 'smarter rather than harder' so to speak…"

"…So when you came at me like that without feeling out my abilities first, I was caught off guard." Chrono concluded. He ran his fingers through his hair and grimaced. "In all honesty, I'm not sure what I would have been able to do even if I had known what you were going to do. I don't have anything with enough stopping power to halt a charge with that much force behind it."

"You would have survived, and likely without losing consciousness, had I followed through, though you would have needed medical attention." Grangeitz assessed. "And I now know that I can trust you to do at least as well in a real combat situation. Don't worry too much about not being able to counter my attack – remember that in actual battle you won't be alone. You might not be able to halt such an attack, but Alpine could have transported you out of the way, or Nakajima could have intercepted me and bought you time to counterattack. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and it is better to identify them now than in the field. And on that note," he raised his device, "this time I want you to attack me. Show me what you can do. Start when you are ready."

Chrono nodded and took a deep breath to center himself.

"Stinger Ray!"

* * *

><p>It was a painful reminder of how absurdly vast the difference between Chrono and Grangeitz was that Grangeitz had not even worked up a sweat by the time the training was called to an end. Chrono had eventually realized that the older man's barrier jacket was optimized to deal with barrier-piercing magic attacks after his hits (and he was proud to say he got a few on the knight) had yielded less-than-impressive results. Grangeitz was a physical and magical powerhouse, and an experienced one at that. Chrono got by on skill and cleverness and a good mana supply.<p>

To put it simply, Chrono thought wryly as he left the shower and returned to the locker room, Grangeitz was the worst type of opponent for him. Chrono couldn't move fast enough to prevent him from closing the space between them, he couldn't keep up with him in hand-to-hand, and he certainly didn't have anything that could pin the knight down. Chrono made a mental note to learn some better binding spells, something that would help him keep some much-needed space between himself and close-quarters specialists. Perhaps Struggle Bind might be worth the investment of time after all.

Grangeitz was reading from a projected screen when Chrono joined him out in the hall. Chrono raised an eyebrow at that – they weren't supposed to look over material related to the case in a place where people could just wander by and sneak a peek. But on closer examination, Chrono saw the standardized block letters that were only ever used in operational instructions – or as most people usually called them, rules and regulations. Chrono's eyebrows threatened to disappear above his hairline when he saw the file header: TSABOPINST 6000.1 d.

Or as Chrono knew it, the second thing he'd been forced to read after his mother had given him The Talk. The first had been about sexual relationships and, more importantly, what he as an officer was expected to do and not do relating to them. The second had actually been 6000.1 c, the predecessor to 6000.1 d, and it had been a very comprehensive document about pregnancy. And how it affected the mother and her duties, and the father and his duties, and the commanding officer's responsibilities, and what everyone else was expected to do, and…

Chrono backtracked. Why was Grangeitz reading 6000.1 d?

Grangeitz sighed upon seeing Chrono and closed the screen. "Before we go to our office, you need to know three things," he said. "First, just smile and nod and Nakajima will calm down eventually. Secondly, I have not yet talked with Alpine about how much of her current duties she will continue to perform, so I would prefer you not bring the subject up yet; that is something for the two of us to work out alone."

Chrono nodded. Leave that discussion to Alpine's commanding officer. Fair enough… Well, at least that answered the question of who was going to be a parent.

"Thirdly, you will not inquire about the father," Grangeitz commanded, a palpable aura of menace forming. "He died recently, and if you cause Alpine distress by bringing it up I will ensure that you live to regret it. Am I clear?"

Chrono gulped. "Crystal."

"Excellent," Grangeitz said pleasantly. "Let's get to work then."

* * *

><p>"…I'll show you how to stitch a wound closed another time, but other than that I think that's about it." Arf finished. "Yuuno, we're done over here!" She called out across the dojo.<p>

"Really?" Yuuno asked, surprised, as he and Fate walked over to her. "I would have thought it would take longer."

"She's a quick learner," Arf said, causing Nanoha to beam at her. "There are probably a few more things, and she'll need practical experience, but that'll have to wait until she can use both hands."

"Are you sure you can't just 'fwoosh' it better?" Nanoha gesticulated with her healthy arm.

Yuuno gave her a deadpan look. "I'm sure that Physical Heal doesn't 'fwoosh' if that's what you're asking."

Nanoha pouted.

"You'll understand shortly," Yuuno promised. "Do you want to move back into the house or stay here? I'll be talking for a while before we actually do anything."

"Here is fine," Fate said before flushing. "I mean, if nobody minds…"

"No, I don't mind," Nanoha was quick to reassure her. Yuuno smiled as well, but privately wondered why she wanted to sit on the hard wooden floor when there was a nice soft couch in the house. Although, come to think of it, the Garden of Time had been very dark, stony and oppressive even if it was spacious. In contrast, the dojo was much brighter and more open.

Once Arf was done repacking her medical kit, the four of them sat in a circle on the wooden dojo floor.

"There are three general ways to use magic to heal," Yuuno began. "The first is to use magic to supplement first aid. For example, if you don't have a stretcher then you could levitate someone with a back injury so that you don't hurt them when you move them."

"Ah, like when Nanoha used binds to splint her arm?" asked Arf.

"Exactly," Yuuno nodded. "It isn't exactly what you might usually think of when someone says 'healing magic' but it can be very effective. I can show you a few tricks, but using your imagination is often the key. Now, the second way is, of course, healing spells. The third way is Shamal's way; high powered diagnostic spells and specific treatments for specific problems. It's the sort of magic that a doctor or a surgeon would use, although I suspect that Shamal is much more capable than the average doctor. It's certainly beyond what I can do, so I'll focus more on the generic healing spells."

He looked around to see if there were any queries; hearing none, he continued.

"Healing spells are just like most spells in that most people can do them, but it takes a certain amount of talent to achieve true proficiency. You three don't have a great knack for support magic, at least not compared to your offensive magic, so while one of you having a talent for healing isn't completely out of the question you shouldn't expect this to be easy to learn." Yuuno cautioned.

Yuuno was pleased to see that his students weren't dissuaded in the slightest.

"Now, a healing spell provides the body with energy it can use to heal itself by either breaking or bending the laws of physics, depending on the spell." He scratched his head. "Well, perhaps laws of biology might be a better description, but you get the idea. Some spells boost cell replication, others create tissue in a mana-to-flesh conversion process. I think it should be fairly obvious that the second one is a great deal more energy intensive, but also faster at restoring full functionality.

"On the other hand, accelerating the body's natural processes uses the body's resources… and the body has only so much available. Which means that the healthier the person you want to heal is, the better it works, while if you are trying to heal someone who is starving or sick there is a risk that they might… run empty. At which point the body starts to cannibalize itself to fuel the healing…"

All three of his students shuddered at that. Yuuno smiled weakly. "It normally is only a danger with extreme injuries and very sick patients. You just need to use your judgment to decide. There are non-magical healing methods as well, and sometimes they could be preferable to magical ones for any number of reasons. Don't worry about it too much, it isn't something you will be running into any time soon, if ever."

"Which is Physical Heal?" Nanoha asked, trying to change the subject.

"Somewhere in between," Yuuno replied. "Physical Heal is a very flexible, if not particularly powerful, spell. I normally fabricate an extracellular framework but let the body do the rest with accelerated growth." He paused. "I should warn you, it can be very mentally intensive to create flesh. It's really complicated, especially if there are more than a few types of tissues involved. I can try to teach you to do it later on, but it's probably best to stick to just boosting the body's healing mechanisms. There's less chance of things going… wrong."

They agreed readily, not particularly wanting the gory details.

"Now, how much work the caster has to do depends on the injury, of course, but it also depends on how the magical the hurt person is. It would be much easier for me to heal Nanoha than Miyuki, because Nanoha has a functioning linker core which can do some of the work for me, while Miyuki does not. This method of healing has another effect: the energy that isn't used, and there is always some, no matter how focused the healer or magical the patient, that energy remains in the tissue once you are finished healing."

Yuuno looked at Nanoha. "This build-up makes healing the area much harder, as it interferes with further spells. For a flesh wound, the build-up would dissipate fairly quickly. Cartilage and bone, however, holds the energy for months. That's why I haven't healed your arm; I'm simply not skilled enough to heal it more than once every three months, so I'd rather only do it when necessary. Also, it would be rather hard to explain to the doctor."

Nanoha humphed out of principle.

"There's just one more thing you need to keep in mind," Yuuno said solemnly, "and that is that healing spells only restore structural integrity. As such, there are some things they can't fix. No matter how good you get, you won't be able to cure diseases or strengthen weak body parts or restore sanity. There's a reason that MidChilda has vaccines and physiotherapy and psychiatrists still. And no magic can bring back the dead."

Yuuno was a little worried about how Fate might respond to that, but he felt obligated to make it absolutely clear. Some things just couldn't be done.

Fate looked a little uncomfortable at the reminder of her mother, but she didn't flinch, which Yuuno felt was good.

"…The living are what matters." Arf said quietly, giving Fate's hand a squeeze.

"Well said." Yuuno nodded. "Now, let's move on to the basic spell."

The green light of his magic flared, a MidChildan circle floating above his hand. Nanoha, Fate, and Arf looked at it intently while Yuuno stripped the symbols off of it to hover in midair.

"These are the equations that I use; you may want to tweak them to suit you. This first one should be familiar to you – it just describes a 'neutral', steady stream of mana…"

* * *

><p>"What is the significance of a 'birthday'?"<p>

Hayate took a moment to process that, then responded appropriately.

"What."

"A birthday," Shamal repeated.

Hayate very carefully did not react negatively and instead she scrambled for a good way to put it. It wasn't that unreasonable. Her knights had not been 'born' in the traditional sense, nor did they age. Maybe in the future she could throw them some kind of 'materialization day' party or something.

"It's the anniversary of the day someone was born." Hayate responded, her hopes of Shamal understanding easily dying a quick death when Shamal emoted interest instead of comprehension. "People celebrate becoming a year older... Friends and family give gifts... There's usually some kind of special food, like cake, though when girls turn seven and boys turn five Thousand Year Candy is traditional…" Hayate trailed off, unsure what else to say.

Shamal considered that. "So you… celebrate your continued survival once a year?"

"Yeeeessssss, technically," Hayate said hesitantly. "But I don't think that's the usual focus…"

"What an interesting idea!" Shamal exclaimed delightedly. "Would you tell me more about these presents?"

And as simple as that, the nice relaxing journey back home from the library became a question and answer game, with Hayate struggling to convey the idea behind something she had always taken more or less for granted. The idea that the thought behind a present is more important than the present itself was particularly tricky to explain to Shamal – apparently the closest gift-giving event she could recall was a knighting ceremony, when the new knight received his weapons and armor. The quality of the gift was rather important when your life might depend on it.

It was only when they reached the apartment door that Hayate thought to ask what brought on this line of inquiry.

"Oh, Dr. Ishida called and left a message on my phone when we were in the library." Shamal said blithely as she followed Hayate inside. "She said she wanted to invite us out to dinner after your appointment since your birthday is tomorrow."

"It is?" Hayate said, bewildered, but a quick glance at her phone confirmed that today was, indeed, June 3, and she would be turning nine tomorrow. She had nearly forgotten her own birthday. "Huh. It is. I'll call her and tell her we'd be happy to join her."

* * *

><p>While all of the Wolkenritter had cell phones, their telepathic network was easier, faster, and less expensive to use. As a result, the other three knights had finished up their shopping and moved onto the newest item on their 'to do' list. It was a distressingly vague mission, but like all of their duties they approached it as the serious matter that it was.<p>

Shopping for birthday presents, as was apparently expected of family members.

"Remember," Signum said to Vita and Zafira, "anything you obtain must be small enough to fit into the apartment and easy to move into Hayate's house without magic. We should also minimize expenditure."

For Vita, it was simple. Thinking like a young girl with an absurd amount of power but relatively few personal possessions was easy considering that she did it every waking moment. Five minutes and one cuddle-able toy later, she was done.

Shamal, on the other hand, felt that any gift she might have them buy would be meaningless compared to her most important project: restoring Hayate's ability to walk. It was a long-term project that might take months or years, but the Wolkenritter agreed that Hayate would probably appreciate it more than any object.

Signum and Zafira, however, had little success, and after an hour of aimless wandering they finally sent Vita home ahead of them with their purchases.

"Do you suppose she would want to learn archery?" Signum asked somewhat rhetorically.

"About as much as she wants body armor, I suspect." Zafira responded, referring to one of his suggestions which Signum had debunked. "But I think she would agree to do it, if only because she likes spending time with you." Zafira said.

"Really?" Signum said dubiously. "She spends more time with Vita and Shamal usually."

Zafira chuckled. "They are adapting to peace better than we are, I think. Hayate hasn't quite figured out how to relate to us yet."

Signum sighed. "She shouldn't have to relate to us. We're the Wolkenritter."

"Doesn't mean she doesn't want to," Zafira pointed out. "And it doesn't mean she can't. She isn't merely different from normal. I'm pretty sure we've had kind masters before, but she has completely different priorities."

"Try to be a family, try to fit in more, try not to kill anyone…" Signum shook her head. "To a certain degree, I wish she would just give us orders. It would be easier that way. Taking the initiative like this, even to follow previous requests from her, is… strange."

"You'll manage. You always do."

Her mouth twisted up into a wry smile. "Sometimes I wonder if it's even possible for someone like me to adapt to a world where nothing is trying to kill us."

"The only thing that I doubt you are capable of is buying presents," Zafira said with a smile.

Signum took the unusual compliment in the spirit that it was meant.

* * *

><p>"…Signum, I don't think we're going to find anything."<p>

"Vita did."

"That was over an hour ago," Zafira pointed out. "If we stay out too long Hayate will worry."

Signum looked around at the shops, hoping for something to leap out at her. No inspiration struck.

"It shouldn't be this hard."

But it was, which was why Vita had already been sent back. Zafira waited patiently while Signum wrestled with the problem.

"We'll try one more thing before giving up," Signum said hesitantly, fishing a piece of stiff paper out of her pocket. From the way she looked at it, it might as well have been a snake.

But she pulled out her phone and dialed the number written on it anyway.

* * *

><p>"Hello, this is Shirou Takamachi. May I ask who is calling? Signum?" Shirou raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected her to call him quite this soon. "What can I help you with?"<p>

Inevitably, thoughts that had saved his life during his youth bubbled up as Signum spoke. This was quite possibly a trap. He should bring his weapons, in case he was forced to battle. Another part of him reminded him that he was older and slower than he used to be, and that magical body armor was probably more than a match for his blades. If it was a trap, he was as good as dead either way. But a weapon might give him a fighting chance, though, even if it was a small one.

But Shirou also knew that if this was not a trap, then the correct response was to go unarmed and strengthen the bonds of trust in the hopes of developing a better relationship with the knights. He had given Signum his number because he had once been in a similar situation: a warrior without a war. He had wanted to help her acclimatize to a lifestyle not centered around mincing people. If he wasn't going to take her request for help at face value, why had he bothered?

So even though shopping for presents wasn't exactly what he had expected Signum to ask him to help her with, he agreed to meet up with her. He told Momoko what he was doing, checked up on the kids (who were apparently learning to heal by discussing calculus, which still seemed strange to him) and drove to the shopping center where Signum and Zafira were waiting.

"Thank you for coming," Signum said tightly. Shirou understood; he had, years back, been in a similar position, except he had been looking for a ring for Momoko rather than a birthday present. Signum's pride was probably stinging.

"It was no trouble," Shirou demurred. "In fact, I believe I would like to buy her a present as thanks for her recent help, if you would be willing to give it to her?"

He didn't need to point out that that would allow Signum and Zafira to screen the gift for traps.

As he walked beside them, Shirou resisted the urge to interrogate them. He was no Batman or Sherlock Holmes, but he would still be able to glean some information about their personalities and circumstances by striking up conversation with them. He didn't. His goal here was to improve his standing with the knights from 'kill him first next time' to… well, pretty much anything else would be an improvement. And they might be a little socially inept, but they weren't stupid.

So the only question he asked was what ideas they had had. Zafira's idea of body armor wasn't that helpful, but it was an easy leap from armor to clothes. Shirou helped Zafira pick out a few nice shirts, blouses, and the like, advising the two knights that jewelry and clothes were always acceptable gifts for girls as long as the items were tasteful. On the way to the check-out counter Shirou picked up some floral-themed hairclips (prepackaged to reduce worries) and a pretty necklace, which was much more appropriate as a 'thank you' for saving Yuuno's life. Hopefully it would pass muster with Hayate's bodyguards, but if not then at least the hair clips would probably get through.

After paying, the three of them, continued their slightly tense, mostly silent journey, with their goal this time being the nearest bookstore. It was mostly a guess on Shirou's part, as knowing that Hayate had one (probably magical) book didn't prove that she liked to read, but Signum managed to find something she deemed acceptable (she didn't tell him what and he was afraid to offend her by peeking) so everything worked out.

One incredibly awkward parting and an uneventful drive home later, Shirou finally relaxed. On reflection, the outing would have been extremely boring were it not for the risk of being eviscerated looming over him the entire time. As a 'getting-to-know-you' exercise it was an utter failure, but considering that he had been helpful and was currently in one piece, Shirou tentatively called the outing a success.

Not that he put it quite like that when he told Momoko about it. No need to make her fret over what might have been.

* * *

><p>Lindy sighed, glad she had the chance to talk to him so that she could warn him ahead of time. It was much better to talk with her now than to argue publicly with his team later. "It's just a possibility, though a very real one. Alpine could easily be remaining on combat duty for a few more months."<p>

"But why?" Chrono asked. "I mean, I know that it is technically allowed, but nobody I've ever worked with has wanted to go into a firefight while carrying a child. Alpine is certainly capable from what I've heard, but it is an unnecessary risk."

"No, it isn't." Lindy sighed again. "It's discouraged for weaker mages to do so, but once you start dealing with A-rank and higher the policy is flipped. Think about it. One A-rank mage is worth more than this ship's entire complement of enforcers, yourself excluded. And A-rank and stronger mages are rare. We maybe, maybe, have a couple for every Administered world. And for whatever reason, most are female. And we need them all. We can't afford to turn them away. If she can fight and she wants to fight, then we let her because elite mages are the backbone of the TSAB."

Chrono nodded grudgingly, obviously still disquieted. But he knew the statistics, even if he rarely had cause to think about them. Even on Mid-Childa, where 999 out of 1000 children had enough magical ability to cast spells, only 1 mage in 10 had significant strength. Out of those, perhaps 1 in 100 trained in combat magic, and then only a small fraction of those joined the TSAB. Most recruits never made C, only a few reached B. Most B-rank mages eventually made A-rank, but more than that?

Grangeitz was the only S-rank mage Chrono had ever met. And having fought the knight, Chrono felt that in a fight between a battalion and Grangeitz, Grangeitz would win handily. Magic endowed individuals with enormous personal power, and when a criminal with that kind of power showed up the best, if not the only, response was to send in someone with a similar sort of strength.

But try as he might, Chrono couldn't quite convince himself that the same principle applied to the pregnant Alpine.

"I understand," Chrono said. "But I don't like it."

Lindy smiled. "I would be disappointed if you did. But it isn't as if we're throwing her carelessly into battle – the reasons we are willing to let her continue to fight also necessitate that we pull her out when the risk becomes greater than we are willing to accept. The TSAB takes good care of its aces." Schooling her expression, she continued. "You should not get involved. This is something for her commanding officer and the medical officers to discuss with Alpine. Let them handle it and come talk to me if you have a problem, but don't argue with Alpine or Grangeitz about it." She smiled wryly. "Of course, this all becomes a moot point if Grangeitz talks her into standing down for the next six months. I just want to make sure you aren't surprised by the possibility."

Chrono nodded. "Grangeitz already told me to let him handle it. Also to avoid causing Alpine distress. And he warned me that Nakajima was excited about this, but I made the mistake of not taking that one as seriously as the other two." Which was to say that Nakajima turned from a cool, competent, if playful and informal, investigator to a six year old with a sugar high whenever the subject came up. It was rather disconcerting.

Lindy chuckled. "Yes, she is rather… expressive." Changing subjects, she asked Chrono about the investigation.

"Nothing so far," Chrono shrugged. "Grangeitz and Alpine are working on the other half of the case while Nakajima and I are trying to dig up leads in our limited information about Earth. Aria and Lotte will be helping us try to research Earth in the Infinity Library.

Lindy winced sympathetically.

"If nothing else, we'll at least be able to interview them," Chrono sighed. "We could really use a new Head Librarian. The Library just gets worse and worse every time I visit."

"Leti tells me that nobody wants the job," Lindy sighed. "And I can hardly blame them. Organizing the sum total of the TSAB's written knowledge would take more dedication than the pittance of a salary attached to the position instills in people. She's planning on getting a better benefits package for it and raising it a couple of pay grades, but she has to get permission first and it isn't going quickly. There will probably be someone this time next year, but for now you're on your own."

* * *

><p>"I can't do that."<p>

The words were out of Megane's mouth before she even thought them, but the truth of them was undoubtable. She couldn't. Not wouldn't. Not shouldn't. Couldn't. And she hated it.

When Zest nodded, an understanding look on his face, Megane felt like collapsing with relief.

"Then I will allow you to take part in field operations until the medical staff on this vessel judge the risk to be too great," Zest told her.

"Thank you," Megane said, and she meant it. Even knowing that eventually she would have to stand back, even knowing that nothing would go wrong and Zest and Quint could deal with anything, this was a huge relief to her. She wasn't ready. She didn't think she could handle not going with them, not having any control over the situation. She wasn't sure she would ever be ready, but she knew that six months of sitting back and hoping that her friends didn't come back in body bags was more than she could handle.

"I will be honest and say that I am uncomfortable with this," Zest said gently. "But I trust in your abilities, so I will try to be objective. That said, I would very much prefer you to take on a support role when possible."

Megane smiled weakly. "Fair enough. I'll let Harlaown pick up the slack. And… I might have a new contribution to the team if Garyuu is mature enough."

Zest's brow furrowed as he considered that. "That is the child-size, humanoid one, yes?"

"Adult-sized, or rather he will be." Megane corrected. "He should be fully grown shortly. He needs experience, but he is stronger than most humans, can fly, and is able to become invisible."

Zest nodded. "Let me know when he is ready."

Megane nodded. "You know that I'm not doing this to put the little one in danger, right?" She said, suddenly worried. "I just… I can't… It's stupid and irrational, but I just can't… I mean, I feel like I'm failing as a mother and my child isn't even born yet…" She slammed her fist into the nearby bulkhead, tears of frustration welling in the corners of her eyes. This wasn't fair, blast it.

"I understand," Zest put his hand on her shoulder supportively. "And I think that you are a strong woman who wants to protect the things she cares about more than anything. Your fears might not be entirely rational, but they aren't baseless either, and I know that they are very real to you. You, I and Nakajima, we'll work through this together. You aren't alone, and you never will be. It will be alright."

"I know," Megane whispered tiredly. She was sick of worrying, or doubting, of feeling like the universe was out to get her. She knew that things would work out, that her friends were strong, that her child would survive, that the world wasn't going to drop out from under her feet again, but still… "But it doesn't help me believe it."

"Then we'll make you believe it," Quint said gently but firmly as she approached her teammates. "It'll take time, but you'll get there and you're worth it to us."

"Spying on me again, Quint?" Megane sniffed, but there was no rancor in it.

"Of course, dear," Quint said, and wiped a tear of her friend's face. "How else will I know when you and Zest finally put aside your silly 'no dating coworkers' rule and hook up?" She smiled and tapped Megane on the nose with her wet index finger to show that she wasn't serious. "Now, I'm using my prerogative as the most socially capable of the three of us to drag you two to dinner with me and my family. Harlaown's got the night shift and neither of you have a social life, so don't even try to weasel out of it. We're going to spend some quality time together and eat some good food and the two of you are going to have fun, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Zest said with a smile.

Megane just giggled. What would she ever do without Zest and Quint?

In the back of her mind, she felt again the fear that haunted her. What would (could) she do without them (with nobody left) if (when) they died (and it was all her fault)?

Quint grabbed her hand and tugged her towards the door and the fear faded. There was nothing to worry about, Quint was right here and Zest was right behind them. Everything was good.

(for now)

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**No, Megane doesn't have a split personality or anything. She just has issues, the cause of which I think it is (finally) appropriate to expound upon next update. She's aware of her problems, and she and her friends are trying to work through them, but it isn't a fast or easy process. The only thing that is holding her back is herself, and she can't seem to do anything about it. And that can be intensely, painfully frustrating. The crux of the matter is that you have to face your fears… and for some people that can be very difficult.**

**Courage is contextual.**

**On that note, am I the only one who feels like the plot is moving at the speed of molasses? Well, at least it's moving, which is better than the alternative. Still…**

**I've been finding that Zest is fairly easy to write (he's a normal guy, more or less, if a bit of an introvert) and that Quint is fun to write (she is perhaps the most normal person in the entire cast, between her lack of dead loved ones, her stable, loving family, and her ability to actually socialize with people and enjoy it. She can actual get excited about things and have fun without any trouble whatsoever. If it weren't for the cyborg children I'd almost think she was hiding something) and that Megane is hard to write well, but when I get it right it can really work (it just barely convinces me that the vast amounts of editing and re-editing and re-re-editing and re-re-re-re-re-re-editing of her scenes isn't a complete waste of time).**

**I would say that I second-guess myself over the quality of Megane's scenes more than any of the other ones.**

**Now, I do have some more material ready, but it's just 3 to 4 pages of Jail and Numbers stuff which I'll probably turn into a mini-chapter which will go in the chapter after next. So there will be a wait while I write up the next chapter, but hopefully it won't be quite as long as the wait for this chapter.**

**This chapter's title comes from OPNAVINST 6000.1 c, which I read because I had no idea how the military deals with pregnancy. I took what I learned and did my best to make it fit with the quirks of a magitech military thingy like the TSAB. The other thing that took a lot of work was the healing stuff, which I hope was comprehensible. As always, please let me know if I royally screwed up somewhere.**


	11. Chapter 11: Day by Day

**Author's Notes:**

**Not a whole lot to say about this. It turned out better than I feared, but worse than I'd hoped. It definitely isn't the quality I'd like to produce after so many months without updating, but I finally had it ready and I figured that I might as well advance the story towards A's.**

**I'm thinking one purely TSAB chapter, one purely Earth fast-forward chapter, and (maybe) an interlude chapter, and then straight on to A's. Not the world's best pacing, but I don't want to get any more bogged down.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 11: Day by Day<p>

* * *

><p><strong>June 4, 0065<strong>

* * *

><p>Sometimes, bad things happen to good people. Not everyone deals with pain well.<p>

Quint felt that that was a good summary of Megane's life recently.

"I used to be envious of how large her family was," Quint said sadly, reminiscing on younger, simpler days. "She always had so many people there to support her at her matches… Funny how things turn out."

It was the kind of funny that nobody laughed at.

Genya hummed thoughtfully. "Does she have anyone left who will help her out? From her family, I mean."

"Not really," Quint considered. "I mean, there are probably some relatives of the 'third cousin twice removed' sort, but… between the car crash, the fire, her granny's stroke, her aunt's heart condition, her cousin's imprisonment… Wait, what about… no, I think he's on one of those long deep space assignments… Maybe an uncle, can't remember the name, but I think he lives on a planet way out in the middle of nowhere…" She shrugged. "No one comes to mind."

"Well, we do have a spare bedroom. If you want to offer it to her…"

Quint smiled and gave her husband a peck on the cheek. "I'll talk to her about it in a few months, when she might appreciate it more. You know how she can get."

* * *

><p><em>She had met him after her parents' funeral. Not immediately of course, but after a week or so (she had not been paying much attention to time back then) when she was marginally more capable. She had, she supposed, technically known him for a while as a neighbor, since they lived in the same housing complex, but beyond the normal exchange of meaningless pleasantries they had been nonentities in each other's lives. Moved in different circles – he was in search and rescue – and she had never bothered to get to know them.<em>

_So the first time they had really met was when he had recognized her, nearly unconscious, in the nearest bar. He had taken her back to her apartment to sleep it off, and had been surprisingly understanding about her sending him headfirst into a wall upon waking up to find an unfamiliar man sitting next to her bed._

_It wasn't a great first impression, but after the first (extremely awkward) conversation they had talked more, and longer, and as time passed and she became more functional, they got to know each other a little._

_A couple of weeks later, Megane went back to work, and found that Quint was in the hospital after nearly having her spine severed. It was an injury that Megane could have easily prevented, had she been there. But she hadn't been there. And Quint had paid for it._

_(The nightmares started that night.)_

_There were two bright spots in what, at the time, felt like a dark period of her life, but looking back on it, the results were pretty good for her. The team stopped being Zest and Quint-and-Megane, and became Zest, Quint, and Megane. And Rob became a good friend to her, and eventually to the team. Her friends were… she did not want to say 'crutch', more a… stabilizing influence in her life. She found emotional stability, she cut back on her drinking, and as the months passed, laughter became more common than tears and joys outstripped sorrows._

_(But the fear never faded.)_

_Progress was slow (her therapist disagreed, but it certainly felt slow) but steady. She wanted to overcome her stupid, irrational-_

_(In our line of work, everyone gets shot down sometimes, and not everyone gets back up.)_

_**-Stupid, irrational**__ weakness and so she forced herself to cope when she couldn't keep her eye on her teammates in battle. Within a few months, she had it stuffed in a distant corner of her mind like her fear of heights was._

_(But never gone, just contained. Something she trained herself to ignore, but failed to excise.)_

_Things got better, though there were still ups and downs. Her family had withered, died, and disintegrated by inches as time passed, and one day she had looked around to find that she was the only one living on Mid-Childa anymore. She did not like to admit it, but there was a hole in her heart that her friends didn't always fill. What was between her and her friends was thicker than water, but it wasn't blood. _

_(What is wrong with me? Why does it matter? I would die for them, so why does it matter?)_

_Rob asked her out one day. She agreed, though a little frightened-_

_(Why am I always afraid?)_

_-Frightened that things would go sour and their friendship would be destroyed. But it never happened. It was hardly a whirlwind romance, but they grew closer. They did not fall in love as much as they gently drifted down to it, but that in no way diminished it._

_They became lovers. Quint and Genya adopted Subaru and Ginga. Zest opened up more and learned to relax. The nightmares became less and less frequent. At work some cases ended badly, but most of the time they were successful. They were placed on the trail of Scaglietti, and while their continued failures were disappointing, they knew it was only a matter of time before Scaglietti made a mistake they could take advantage of._

_And then Rob's commander knocked on Megane's door one day, and told her that they should go inside and sit down for this. And then… quietly, kindly laid out the story. She managed to choke back her tears long enough to thank the woman for telling her in person even though she was just his girlfriend. She lost the fight and broke down crying when the woman told Megane that Rob would have wanted her to._

_Megane was an utter wreck after that day. Quint and Zest refused to give up on her, working together to make sure she was looking after herself. But where she had made a slow, steady recovery after the death of her parents, she now faltered. Everything from her friends' inexhaustible patience to the despair she felt was a reminder of what she had lost. She felt Rob's absence everywhere, and the bitter similarity of her state to how she had been when they first met was salt on her wounded heart._

_(Why am I so weak?)_

_She forcefully threw herself back into work a mere two weeks later, forcing herself to improve in appearance if not in truth. To a surprising degree, it was effective. When she was sparring with Quint or doing paperwork or backing up Zest as he crushed the defenses of one of Scaglietti's hideouts, she felt better. Not good, but better. She channeled her energy into all of the parts of her life where Rob had been peripheral. Her job and her training, in particular, Rob had never been fully involved in. There were fewer memories turned bitter._

_But while to all outside viewers her recovery was swift and fairly complete, Megane knew she had merely patched over her weaknesses. Her pregnancy forced her to acknowledge the black hole of fear and despair in her heart, but she could not just… fix herself. And in spite of knowing that she was fueling a vicious cycle, she couldn't help but hate herself for her failure._

_(What kind of mother am I?)_

_Zest, Quint, Genya, Subaru, Ginga… they became a lifeline. They were strong where she was weak. Like the sun, it hurt to look at them, and it burned when she got too close, but she could not live without them. She shied away, but allowed them to pull her in. If she told them of her troubles, her fears, her pregnancy, her self-loathing, her life would be easier and better. She would have help, help that she desperately wanted, but… wasn't it safer to manage on her own? No, that was stupid. They weren't going to die or anything._

_(I hope.)_

_She'll tell them tomorrow._

_After all, she can trust them with anything._

_(She just has to trust them.)_

_She'll tell them in the morning._

_(The nightmares always change her mind.)_

_It never happens. There's always a reason not to, and as much as she wants to let them in she wants to keep them out. But Quint finds out anyway because she's Quint and her life can't go out of control because it was never in control so it just goes out of control in another direction. But it is better? Maybe? It should be definitely, but Megane can't find her footing._

_(How do Zest and Quint keep theirs?)_

_When am I going to stop being afraid?_

* * *

><p>Megane set aside her pen, and looked at the two and a half pages of writing on the table in front of her with disgust. Writing in a journal was supposed to help her get perspective or something, but she didn't really think it helped much. Admittedly, she had not really listened when the therapist had told her about this stuff, and she hadn't seen him in a couple of years, and she was pretty sure she was doing it wrong. But first person always sounded so <span>whiny<span>. With a snort, she crumpled the pages up, tossed them in the air, and vaporized each with a magical projectile.

Rule one of being Quint's friend: never, ever leave anything embarrassing lying around. This definitely qualified.

Yielding to the inevitable, she turned her attention back to what had prompted her writing. Megane fiddled uncomfortably with her planner, one of her few non-virtual organizing tools. She stared at the date circled in pencil. It was the next time Harlaown was scheduled to be in charge of the night shift, and thus the next time Quint and Zest would have a free evening to spend with her.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she sent a message to the clinic to set up her next appointment for that day.

"…Now I just have to ask them to come with me," she spoke aloud to herself with forced cheer. "Easy enough, right?" If only.

_When am I going to stop being afraid?_

Megane glared at the pen she had written with, then gave up the effort. Inanimate objects were very resistant to intimidation.

"Might as well start now," she said reluctantly.

She grabbed her device and her keys and set off for work. On the way out the door, she lobbed the pen towards the trash can out of petty spite.

She missed.

* * *

><p>"Nervous?" Arf asked somewhat rhetorically. "Don't worry, you'll do fine. Just stick to the story, and don't hesitate to use telepathy if you need help."<p>

Fate nodded. "Please take care of Bardiche for me," she said, handing her familiar the device.

"He'll be in tip-top shape in no time," Arf promised.

"Now remember the plan," Shirou said. "If you are attacked, put a barrier in place immediately, and get outside of the building as fast as possible. It is much easier to explain away impossible disappearances than shooting energy blasts. Also-"

Arisa interrupted nervously. "You don't really expect an attack, do you?"

"No, but it can't hurt to be ready."

Suzuka called out from the street: "I can see the bus!"

Momoko quickly finished handing out lunches to the assembled children. Nanoha, Fate, Yuuno, Suzuka and Arisa would be arriving as a group today, so Arisa as class president could help ease the two newcomers into school life. Which mostly meant 'keep people from questioning Fate and Yuuno too closely'.

"All of you have our numbers, so don't hesitate to call," Momoko instructed. "Try to have fun, and stay safe."

"Bye Mom, bye Dad!" Nanoha chirped on the way out the door, Fate following with a shy wave. Yuuno and Arisa, spurred on by Suzuka's increasingly hurried cries, quickly pursued.

They joined Suzuka on the sidewalk, and quickly made their way to the bus stop, arriving just in time. They piled in and spent the ride in silence. There wasn't much to say – or perhaps there was nothing to say that could be said on a bus. Either way, they sat there quietly.

Riding the bus to school, watching cars and pedestrians going through their daily motions, the three Japanese girls found the normality strange after the preceding events. The world had narrowly avoided destruction, the city had even more narrowly avoided being wiped off the map, and there were still over a hundred people missing, not to mention the thousands (or millions, according to some estimates) of tons of hill country that had been misplaced… and yet it was business as usual.

They didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

It was an oddly familiar sight to Yuuno as well, both because he had passed through Cranagan from time to time, and because he had seen everything before as a ferret. Being able to see Uminari as a human without having to sneak around while being more than a foot long was… different, yet similar. He ran over his 'biography' a few more times in his head. People probably wouldn't start asking questions if his story wasn't quite consistent, that was one advantage to being nine years old, but no sense taking chances.

Fate stared quietly at her bag the entire time, and tried not to think about being trapped without her device, surrounded by strangers, in a moving metal-and-glass cage that was surrounded by hundreds, no, thousands of other similar deathtraps, none of which she had any control over. She didn't even have a seatbelt, like in the Takamachi's car. She was quite proud that she didn't even scream once on the way to school.

Soon enough, all too soon, or perhaps not nearly soon enough, they arrived.

* * *

><p>"My name is Fate Testarossa."<p>

'Am I doing something wrong? Everyone is staring at me.'

'No, they're just interested in you because you're adorable,' Nanoha assured her, causing her face to flush. 'You're doing great.'

"My Guardian and I have moved here recently, and the Takamachi family has been kind enough to allow us to stay with them. Please take care of me." Fate bowed to the class and did her best not to meet anyone's eyes.

Yuuno stepped up beside Fate. "My name is Yuuno Scrya. I am also staying with the Takamachi family. Please take care of me." He bowed.

The teacher was swiftly persuaded by Arisa's well thought out suggestions (and absolutely not by the fact that her family was filthy, filthy rich and she was a rather terrifying little girl when she wanted to be) and once Arisa's competent nine-year-old claws grasped the seating chart the class was dictatorially shuffled around so the five of them were in the back-left corner of the room, such that Nanoha, Arisa, and Suzuka had desks that put them between Fate and Yuuno and the rest of the class.

Soon the lesson was underway. The first subject? Mathematics, or so it was claimed. Fate and Yuuno exchanged glances upon seeing the rudimentary algebra on the board.

Well, at least they were assured of good grades.

* * *

><p>When she got to the <em>Arthra<em>, Megane found Zest and Quint already at work. "Ah, sorry I'm late," she said sheepishly.

"Traffic?" Quint asked.

"Yeah, there was a wreck on the overpass." Megane hesitated. "…Would you guys like to come with me to my next check-up?"

"Sure!" Quint chirped immediately.

"If you would like me to, certainly," Zest said with a smile.

Megane paused to register that, chuckled, and gave Quint a hug. Zest wasn't big on physical contact, so she decided to spare him one.

"You two always leave me worried about nothing," Megane huffed good-naturedly when she let go.

Quint rolled her eyes. "You know we would never refuse. You worry too much. Just tell us when and where."

And that was that.

* * *

><p>Chrono grabbed a few hours of sleep once Nakajima and Grangeitz arrived, and he felt much more human when he returned.<p>

By his personal, and admittedly unrealistically high, standards, the case was moving far too slowly, and he wished that he could have spent the past couple of hours more productively, but given the importance of this case Chrono knew it was better to lose a few hours of daylight and be rested than to miss an important clue due to tiredness. Still, he mourned the loss.

The three investigators were talking among themselves when he entered the shared workspace, though Nakajima left her teammates upon seeing him.

"Sorry to make you wait," Chrono apologized.

"No apology necessary," Nakajima waved the thought away. "I've got my notes," she fingered her device, "and if we hurry we should arrive at about the same time as the Liese twins. You got everything you want?"

Chrono nodded. "I'm good to go."

"Then let's not keep them waiting."

* * *

><p><em>Spells snap out one after another, magic forming small packets and launching as quickly as she can manage. Testing, probing, trying to work past the shimmering plane of hexagons, Nanoha flitted about, never staying in one place for more than a second. If she could keep it up, remain on the offensive…<em>

_A tricky bit of timing allowed Nanoha to converge eight balls of mystical plasma on the same point of the shield. There was a moment where the opposing forces clashed, then Nanoha's attack broke through to hit the target behind it._

Nanoha frowned. 'Are you sure about that shield strength, Raising Heart?'

'Uncertain,' the device responded. 'My analysis suggests that Precia's consistent use of attacks to counter Divine Buster indicates comparatively weak defenses. Data is limited, but I am confident that such an attack would have an effect.'

Nanoha hummed a mental acceptance. If Raising Heart thought so, the feminine device was probably right. But Nanoha didn't feel that this was sufficient improvement. That little trick was definitely going in her playbook, but it alone wasn't likely to win a fight with Precia. She needed to increase her control and number of bullets, and ideally make her attacks faster. And if she used mana-collection as much as possible, that would help compensate for the overwhelming surplus of raw power Precia had.

Well, she had an idea that might help with at least a few of those things.

'Could you open a workspace, pleas?' Nanoha asked. Obligingly, her field of vision flickered and changed. 'Thank you. I want to make a new spell. I'll need the formulas for Starlight Breaker and Divine Shooter please.'

'Yes, my master. What do you wish to name this program?'

Nanoha considered. Nanoha considered 'Starlight Shooter.'

* * *

><p>Hayate set aside Signum's gifts (Sun-Tsu's <span>The Art of War<span> and Hersey and Blanche's Situational Leadership) and smiled at the knight. She was very proud of herself for not giggling at how very Signum the gifts were. As she scratched Zafira's wolf form behind the ears she looked at her family.

"Thank you for everything, but you really didn't have to go to so much effort for me," she protested weakly. She was too buoyant at the moment to effectively chide them in any way, and she was actually quite pleased with what they had done, so the knights were completely unrepentant.

"To us, you are the most important person in existence," Signum said. Zafira waffled in wordless agreement.

Hayate took a moment to register that, because it was said with such absolute normality that she could not immediately understand it. Who just drops a bombshell like 'Say the word and we will conquer the world for you' or 'You are the only person on this planet that we actually care about' or 'If we kill enough people we will probably manage to find enough Linker Cores eventually and then you would probably be able to fix your legs and, by the way, that war torn country in Africa would probably never miss several hundred thousand people'? Signum, that's who. At least once a day. Well, to be fair, she never actually said it like that, but Hayate could read between the lines.

And there was a horrible realization in the fact that even if Signum wasn't implying that (which Hayate was very sure she was) the Wolkenritter would literally do anything she told them to do.

Anything.

The worst part was that Signum didn't seem to be a sociopath, or whatever sort of 'path' it was that cared obsessively about very few people and not at all for everyone else. Signum had empathy. She didn't act the way she did because that was how she was, she acted that way because she felt she should. And Hayate didn't understand why.

Looking over to the kitchen to distract herself, she watched Vita and Shamal as they made onigiri in preparation for lunch. Hayate was a little worried about that, but she had taught them to make onigiri before. Sure, they made a horrible mess of things the first time they tried… well, anything… but once they learned how to do something they never had the same problems again.

Different problems, of course, were entirely possible.

* * *

><p>It was the first break of the school day, which meant that it was interrogation time. Arisa had attached herself to Fate like glue, which was probably the only thing keeping the poor girl from having a nervous breakdown. Fate was nice, pretty, nervous, and obviously foreign-looking, which more or less equated interesting. So while Yuuno had four or five children asking him questions, Fate had most of the class.<p>

"Back off!" Arisa scowled. "One question at a time!"

Nanoha watched to see if she needed to do anything, but Arisa soon had the situation well in hand.

"Ah, Nanoha?" One of her classmates asked. "What happened to your arm?"

Nanoha froze. She had, somehow, nearly forgotten about that. She looked down and, yes, the splint was visible underneath her uniform, though not nearly as visible as a cast would have been. She rubbed the back of her neck and suppressed the urge to laugh nervously.

"Ah, it got banged up, so I can't use it for much right now. It'll be fine in a couple of weeks, I think." Please don't ask more, please don't ask more please don't ask more-

"That's good, it would bad if you couldn't do sports for the rest of the summer."

Oh thank goodness.

"So how did those two end up living at your place?"

Nanoha told more lies in the following fifteen minutes than she had in the previous five years.

* * *

><p>"Are the walls… moving?" Quint asked uncertainly, once they were high enough up not to be overheard by the librarians. It was very slow, but… She wrenched her eyes away and looked back to the Liese twins.<p>

"Oh, is this your first time here?" the catgirl with the shorter hair (Lotte, Quint reminded herself) sympathized. "Yeah, it can be a bit disconcerting. This place is practically a Lost Logia."

"By which she means that the only reason it isn't is that the TSAB had it commissioned… several decades ago at this point, I think." The long-haired one (Aria) said. "The architect was one of those half-insane genius types. So not only does this place grow as books get added to it, it somehow adds books and bookshelves all by itself. Not to mention the way everything in here ignores gravity."

Quint flinched at the reminder, involuntarily looking down. She was not afraid of heights, but it was very uncomfortable to know that your ability to not fall to your doom was entirely dependent on something beyond your control. The floor below her was far enough away that if whatever floating power this place had failed she would probably break a bone or two. Well, obviously she would cast Wing Road if that happened, but it still wasn't very nice to think about.

"So why aren't we looking through the stacks on the ground?" Quint asked. The nice, literally nailed down bookcases on the floor of the library were where she would have wanted to start.

"Because those are actually in some semblance of order," Aria replied. "The librarians can look through those much faster than we can. But some of the shelves up here have never even been touched, much less sorted."

The ground mage wrinkled her nose. "So, just out of curiosity, Harlaown, what are the chances that there's something useful in here?" Quint asked the Enforcer floating beside her.

Harlaown shrugged. "The chance that there is something useful? Almost certain. The chance of us finding it? Significantly smaller. This place literally has a copy of every non-classified document ever handled by the TSAB, every academic paper and book published on the Administered Worlds since the creation of the library, and quite a bit of other things that fits whatever criteria the Infinity Library uses when it does whatever it does to get its hands on these books. So, on the plus side, we have all of the written knowledge of dozens and dozens of worlds. On the minus side…"

"…We have to search through all of it." Quint finished.

The four of them looked around. While the floor could be seen far below them and the ceiling far above them, and the side of the building they had entered from was only a few hundred meters behind them, before them and off to the sides there were bookshelves as far as the eye could see. Either the Infinity Library was big enough to have a horizon or the space inside was twisted enough to imitate one. Quint wasn't sure which possibility was worse.

"Well, we might as well get started."

* * *

><p>"We're ready to go!" Shamal announced cheerfully as she finished the final onigiri and put it in the box with the others. Vita put the lid on and picked it up. It was large enough to cause the girl trouble, were she human, but since she wasn't she didn't even have to put any effort into it.<p>

Signum rose to her feet and nudged Zafira into motion as Shamal packed a few last minute odds and ends into her purse.

"So, off to the park?" Hayate asked Signum.

Signum suppressed a grimace. Hayate was deferring to her. Again. She thought longingly of dimly-recollected battles in war-torn lands when she had a simple objective and a clear chain of command. Picking up on her thoughts, Zafira whacked her leg with his tail and gave her a disapproving look.

"That's the plan," Signum smiled at Hayate, suitably chastened. She shouldn't think such things. After all, this kind of peace was ideal for Hayate, and that was all that mattered.

Hayate, not being as unobservant as Signum might have wished, sighed. She was obviously going to have to do something, but as good as she was at understanding what Signum was saying, that did no good if Signum didn't talk to her about the problem. She might be spending every waking (and, now that she thought about it, sleeping) moment with her new family, but they were still so new, there was so much she didn't know, didn't understand.

An odd, but increasingly familiar, sensation let her know that another page in the Book was being filled. She rubbed the Book's cover absently with her thumb, and wondered idly when the Book had snuck back onto her lap again. If it could speak, what stories would it tell?

She was almost afraid to find out. But whatever her family's past might be, they were here with her now, and that was all that mattered.

* * *

><p>It was lunchtime, so the five of them headed up to the roof to eat. Nanoha, Suzuka, and Arisa had made a habit of eating there for several reasons, the most relevant for today being that relatively few students were willing to go up all of those flights of stairs. This allowed them a good amount of privacy.<p>

"…I'm still having trouble with all of the spices people on this planet use." Fate admitted as she slowly worked her way through her rather plain meal. "Linith did her best, but she could only do so much with all of the food stores in the Garden being canned, preserved, or frozen. When Arf and I first arrived on Earth, I made the mistake of tasting that green, paste-like substance that goes with sushi-"

"Wasabi," Suzuka supplied.

"Yes, that was it," Fate smiled at the dark-haired girl, then shuddered at the memory. "It was not a pleasant experience."

"How about you, Yuuno?" Arisa asked between mouthfuls.

"I've been all over the place, so I've eaten similar foods before," Yuuno said. "As far as I'm concerned, most food is good. I can't stand insects though."

"Insects?" Suzuka asked dubiously. "Like cicadas?"

"No, there's no real point in eating insects unless they're at least the size of your hand. There has to be enough flesh under the exoskeleton to make it worthwhile." Yuuno made a face. "Regardless, I wouldn't recommend it. Earth has pretty good food, though there's an awful lot of rice."

"That's because we mostly eat Asian food," Arisa informed him. "There's a fair bit of variety between cultures. English food has a lot of meat and potatoes, while food from continental Europe has more breads and pastas. Indian food generally has lots of spices, though it isn't always spicy. I'm not sure about Africa and the Americas… Anyway, there's lots of stuff. Pretty much every country and region has a specialty of some sort."

"Even Antarctica?" Suzuka asked 'innocently'.

"Fried penguin." Arisa said without missing a beat.

"Ah, I really need to learn more about Earth's geography," Fate apologized. "I don't know where those places are."

"Don't worry too much about it," Suzuka advised. "Nanoha can show you a map later."

Nanoha blinked at the sound of her name. "…Ah, yes, just remind me when we get home."

Arisa poked her. "Stop zoning out! What's up with you?"

"Nothing!" Nanoha insisted. "I'm fine."

Yuuno frowned thoughtfully. This seemed familiar- Wait a minute. Yuuno leaned over and looked into Nanoha's eyes, ignoring her protests. And sure enough, there was pink tracery glowing in her pupils. "Are you running a simulation?" He asked incredulously.

"No, I haven't finished streamlining Starlight Shooter yet," Nanoha replied unthinkingly. "I've managed to get it working, but I really want to make sure it is as close to the level of Divine Shooter as I can make it. I want to optimize my efficiency, but not at the expense of combat utility. Maybe if I-" her brain caught up with her mouth and she looked around. Yuuno had his head in his hands, Fate looked interested, Suzuka had a deadpan look on her face, and Arisa was twitching uncontrollably. "I get the feeling I did something wrong, but I'm not sure what."

Arisa smiled. It was not a nice smile. "Allow me to educate you on the proper time and place for such pursuits. Hint: not while talking to your friends." She loomed malevolently over Nanoha and yanked on one of her pigtails. "And another thing…"

Fate shivered. "Arisa is scary."

Suzuka smiled and patted her hand consolingly. "Don't worry, she's not really dangerous, she's just a tsundere."

Yuuno and Fate looked at her blankly.

Suzuka sighed. "Ah, right, magical people from other planets. We really need to introduce you to the wonders of anime."

* * *

><p>Doctor Sachie Ishida, head of neurology at Uminari University Hospital, was pleased to find that her fears about Hayate's suddenly appearing relatives were unfounded. Well, she still was not entirely convinced that they were actually related to each other, much less her patient, but she had no proof and no reason to do anything with her suspicions. She was a doctor, not a detective. And after seeing Hayate alone for the past few years she was relieved to see someone care about and for her.<p>

"So you plan to stay here permanently?" Ishida asked Shamal.

"Mm," Shamal swallowed her mouthful before answering. "Yes, we don't intend to let her go back to living alone. She has looked after herself quite well, but she's much too young to be forced to do so, especially when she can't walk. We've tried to contact her guardian, but Mr. Graham has… well, we haven't heard from him since the…"

Shamal gestured skyward, and Ishida nodded in understanding.

"We're hoping he's alright, but he is getting on in years and…"

"You fear the worst," Ishida said understandingly.

"Yes. There has not yet been any change to the funds he provides Hayate with, but given the situation we have to assume that there will be no more forthcoming." Shamal sighed. "It would be nice to be proven wrong, and we have no solid reason to believe otherwise, but Hayate is too important to us to take that chance. Once Hayate's house is repaired we will see what we can do about finding work in the area."

The doctor smiled. "I'm glad you are willing to go to such lengths to help her. I'm not really supposed to have favorites, but I do like Hayate. She's just such a sweet girl. It's nice to see her so much more upbeat than usual."

Shamal smiled broadly. "That's good to hear. It's hard to know how she's really feeling sometimes, because she internalizes a lot of it."

Ishida smiled back. She really was liking these 'relatives' more and more.

* * *

><p>Megane groaned in disgust as she pulled up another wall of text. "This is ridiculous."<p>

Privately, Zest couldn't help but agree. "We can be fairly sure the data is complete, at least." He offered, trying to put a better spin on it.

"There is such a thing as having too much information on a person of interest." Megane hissed. "I never thought that it would happen, but it has. At this rate we won't finish this investigation for another decade. We need more people! Two is not enough, especially considering that we also have to assist the Arthra, regularly meet with both navy brass and ground forces brass, and help out with the non-secret half of this case!"

The impressive part about Megane's rant was that she did not even pause in her work to give it.

Zest sighed. "I will try to get a team of accounts assigned to look into Admiral Graham's finances. We can pass that off as routine, so I can probably sell it to our superiors. Would that help?"

"I've been drowning in tax law for the past eight hours. At this point I would take a team of drunken squirrels." Megane paused, then groaned. "If we do get those accountants, I just wasted my time today, didn't I?"

Zest had been thinking the same thing, but knew better than to agree out loud.

* * *

><p>"We're home!" Nanoha called out as she passed into the entryway, Yuuno and Fate following behind her.<p>

"Welcome home," Momoko answered. "How was your first day?" She asked Yuuno and Fate.

"I don't think there were any problems," Yuuno shrugged.

Fate nodded. "Arisa helped keep the students from asking me too many questions."

Momoko smiled. "Good to hear, but what I really meant was 'Did you have a good time?'"

Fate thought about it. "I guess? It was less scary than I expected, being in a room with so many people I didn't know. …I didn't have a bad time."

Yuuno agreed. "Some of the classes were interesting, but I already know a lot of the material."

"Ambivalence is perfectly alright," Momoko assured them. "Goodness knows I wasn't always eager to go to school when I was your age. Let me know if anything is troubling you. Now, why don't you go see Arf? I think she finished with Bardiche, but she should still be out back."

* * *

><p>Quint suddenly halted her search spell, catching the attention of the other three mages.<p>

"What is it? Did you find something?" Lotte asked.

"No, something just occurred to me," Quint said contemplatively. "So, the Infinity Library collects all of these books, modifies itself to store them, and blatantly disregards the laws of physics… but it doesn't sort itself? Or have a catalogue? Or some way to help it serve as a functioning library rather than a giant filing cabinet?"

"Oh, it uses a very simple sorting method," Aria informed her dryly. "It stores the books in the order it collects them. New books are in the back, old ones are in the front. So, technically yes, but it doesn't help us in the slightest. The librarians have a good system going, but that only helps with the books they've managed to sort. No catalogue either, sorry."

Quint sighed, and moved on to the next shelf.

* * *

><p>When Hayate and the Wolkenritter got back to the apartment, the sun had set. The food had been good (and not poisoned, and nobody had noticed Shamal checking), they had made a good impression on Dr. Ishida (and with minimal outright lies), and Hayate was happy with everything, including her presents.<p>

And nothing had exploded.

All in all, the Wolkenritter were quite pleased with how everything turned out.

Once inside, Hayate called them to her, one by one, and gave each of them a hug.

"Thank you for being here," she whispered.

"…Never want to be anywhere else," Vita spoke for them, cheeks burning.

And it was the truth.

…

_(And hours later, in the depths of the night, as Signum stared sleeplessly skyward, thinking. Not all problems could be solved with Laevatein's edge.)_

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

_[__**And if t**__he Book __**of D**__arkne__**ss could**__ speak, __**the story**__ it would __**tell might be**__ this: If you __**are lucky**__ what you __**don't know**__ will only __**kill you**__.]_

_[but __**it isn't lucky**__ and __**it can't speak**__ and __no matter how __**loud it SCREAMS**__ no one will hear it until the __**end of the world**__]_

…

[18/666]

…

[18/666]

…

[19/666]


	12. Chapter 12: Investigation

**And here you go. The TSAB's investigation. Send me your queries, and I will try to provide answers later. Tell me where the plot holes are so that I can fill them.**

**In other news, this story is officially over 100,000 words long! Also, there is a ****tvtropes page****, courtesy of **jgkitarel**! If you have some spare time, fill it up!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 12: Investigation<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Two weeks into the investigation.<strong>

* * *

><p>"I normally would not even think of doing this, given the need to maintain confidentiality during a case, and also due to the risk of letting a half-formed theory mislead us, but, first, we essentially have no information that we need to keep confidential, and second, we have so little information that this does not really increase the risk of us getting mislead. So if you have any idea that you think might be helpful, please speak up. It could just give us the break we need. Alright, let's lay everything out on the table. Harlaown, Nakajima, you have the floor. Tell everyone what we have so far."<p>

The investigation had been going on for a full two weeks now, and Zest felt that it was time they figured out where the clues were leading them. This was rather unorthodox, and under most circumstances Zest would not have even considered it, but their initial efforts had amounted to little so far. So Zest had given Harlaown and Quint two days to pull together all of their data into one presentation, and for the whole day they would be going over everything they had with a fine-toothed comb until they found something. They had appropriated the bridge… command deck… whatever the term for it was… for the day in order to use the wall-sized screens to display and manipulate information, and Zest had decided to allow the ship's crew to participate, as well as Admiral Graham and his familiars. The more perspectives, the better.

Did he mention that they really needed a breakthrough sometime soon?

It took a little over an hour just to cover the basics, but it was well worth it to have a complete picture. Quint and Enforcer Harlaown started with a very thorough timeline of the dislocations, and explained at length why it was believed that Non-Administered Planet #97 was at the center of the dislocation.

97, or 'Earth' as they were calling it out of deference to Admiral Graham, was the next topic. History, politics, and geography were discussed in detail. In the end, the message was simple:

"Earth does not have a magic-using civilization, and in fact has not had a civilization that has had magic play any role at all in the entirety of its known history. There is no magical flora or fauna, no significant deposits of magically active substances, and while the number of potential mages on Earth is unknown, it is small enough that the prevalent view is that magic is impossible." Quint took a breath, and spoke the obvious conclusion: "While it is impossible to be certain, we are as certain as we can be that the dislocation could not have been intentionally caused by the native population. Either someone on Earth accidentally activated a Lost Logia of vast power, or a non-native party is responsible."

"Are there any Lost Logia capable of such a thing?" One of the bridge crew asked uncertainly.

"And how would it get to Earth in the first place?" another chimed in.

The young enforcer nodded to both speakers, and manipulated the display as he answered. "Not many. There are only two known Lost Logia that we know are able to cause dislocations. Both are Belkan superweapons confiscated several decades back. They are kept under strict guard at all times. The two of us," he nodded to Quint, "were allowed to verify that both were still locked up like they are supposed to be. We can attest to their continued presence at their respective storage facilities. Having ruled those two out, the next suspect was this."

The images displayed on the screens, of course, were of the Book of Darkness. Tables of data, scans, and numerous graphs and charts, courtesy of Graham and his familiars, were spread out across the screens. This was actually the first suspect, but they couldn't say that in public.

"The Tome of the Night Sky, better known as The Book of Darkness," Harlaown announced. "Not only is it extremely powerful, it has a unique trait that could explain its presence on Earth: when destroyed, it reforms elsewhere, binding itself to a new master which it selects itself."

"The Book was last encountered in 0054," Quint picked up the story, displaying relevant information as she went. "The Book was eventually captured along with its master, but it overpowered the seals placed on it and attempted to take over the ship transporting it. When containment efforts failed, Admiral Clyde Harlaown ordered his crew to evacuate the _Estia_ while he held it back. Admiral Gil Graham, at the request of Admiral Clyde Harlaown, destroyed the _Estia_, and with it the Book, by arc-en-ciel before the Book could fire the _Estia_'s own arc-en-ciel."

Chrono took up the lead again. "The Book's destructive capabilities, adaptability, and its ability to transport itself throughout time-space, make it look like a likely culprit. Furthermore, it can be used to the fullest by even the weakest of mages, regardless of their knowledge or skill. Also, the Book is known to go out of control once it accumulates enough power. In other words, anyone can use it, and regardless of who uses it or what their intentions are, destruction is the inevitable result."

"However," Quint said, "we eventually concluded that the Book's abilities make it unlikely to be the culprit. The Book does have enough power to cause a dimensional dislocation when it is fully charged: it has a mana storage capacity of 666 'pages' which becomes self-sustaining when they are all filled. To give you an idea, of how much this is, an average C-rank mage's linker core might fill about five pages. Releasing that much mana at once can, under the right conditions, cause a dimensional dislocation. But while the Book of Darkness has caused dislocations in at least two recorded instances, it did not use such a method to cause the dislocations.

"In the first case, during the Saint-King Unification War, the Book took control of an experimental facility in a similar way to how it took control of the _Estia_. We have not been able to determine exactly what was within the facility, but using the resources it took control of the Book caused a dimensional dislocation that resulted in the immediate loss of a quarter-sphere of the world in question, severely damaging the biosphere."

"In the second case," Chrono said, "in 0007 of the modern calendar, the Book took control of a factory which produced I-Class mana cores, which was the current version of the power source used by navy warships. Again, it seized control of those resources provided, and used them to cause a dimensional dislocation. Thankfully, the factory was on an uninhabited, remote world. The planet in question is now uninhabitable."

"However," Quint continued, "in both cases, if the Book of Darkness had used its own power, the dimensional dislocation would have been larger by several orders of magnitude. Similarly, if the Book of Darkness had used its own power to produce an arc-en-ciel blast, it would have been able to destroy the escort fleet accompanying the _Estia_. Instead, it went through the process of charging the _Estia_'s own main cannon, which Admiral Graham could easily monitor. In either case, the Book of Darkness should have been able to do much more damage before being destroyed."

"After much analysis, the conclusion we came to was that it did not, because it could not." Chrono said. "The Book of Darkness has three, and only three abilities: First, it can manifest itself and four guardian programs in physical form, similar to familiars. Second, it can reincarnate itself and the guardian programs if it is destroyed. Third, it has the magic Collect and Use. By absorbing the linker cores of its defeated foes, it stores up mana for later use, and also attains the ability to cast any spell its victim has ever used. A user of the Book can then use the mana stockpile to cast any of those spells by simply reciting the full incantation for that spell – if the spell does not have an incantation, the Book designs one."

The whole room shivered. Zest was not afraid of much, but that ability had the potential to be utterly terrifying. But then…

"How does that make it unlikely to be responsible for the dislocations?" Admiral Graham asked.

"Because the logical result is this: the Book only knows spells taken from linker cores." Chrono explained. "The Book had access to all of the information a human would need to cast arc-en-ciel, and it had all of the necessary power, but it is not human. It can't use a spell unless it drains the linker core of someone that has cast such a spell. It could not cast arc-en-ciel, because nobody 'casts' arc-en-ciel, the power core and the main gun of the ship does that. It can't cast a spell to cause a dimensional dislocation, because it would have to absorb the linker core of someone who had actually cast such a spell. And that is impossible."

"Is it actually physically impossible?" Amy asked. "I mean, maybe none of us could do it, but is it really impossible?"

"Well, technically, it isn't impossible, but we had a talk with the scientists who are studying the dislocation, another talk with the scientists studying the Belkan superweapons we mentioned earlier, and we ran everything by some people in R&D just to be sure." Quint explained. "Everyone agrees: an organic being can't handle that much energy all at once. I mean, if someone got really creative, they might be able to come up with workarounds, like, say, making it a magic ritual that took a couple of days, but considering that you can get the same result in a shorter time by literally just dumping a huge amount of mana into a small area, nobody would bother. And it has to be an actual spell, cast by one person, or the Book of Darkness won't be able to learn it."

"Can't it use the same method?" Admiral Harlaown asked. "Just releasing a vast amount of mana?"

"Oddly enough, no." Quint shook her head. "See, the Book of Darkness is all about storing mana and information. It was designed specifically with that in mind. Again, it only has those three functions. The only way it can release mana is by the 'use' part of Collect and Use, by casting spells. And while that could cause a dislocation… Here, this should help explain why it doesn't use that method. Take a look at this."

She pulled up a flow diagram onto the main screen.

"We put together a list of spells we know it knows, and compared the spells it actually uses in each situation to the spells that, say, you or I might use." Chrono said. "When I am in combat, I always choose my spells based on my goals. Sometimes the secondary effects of a mediocre spell make it a better choice than a more powerful spell. But in every case on record, the Book of Darkness chooses spells based on the primary effects."

"For example," Quint said. "The Book of Darkness knows a high level binding spell that causes the target to suffer severe frostbite within five seconds of a successful cast. Which, if you don't care about the target, is really useful for making sure the target stays out of the fight. But it never casts it, preferring to use a slightly stronger one that has no useful secondary effects at all. Now, just one example is hardly proof, but this is a persistent trend."

"It took a lot of analysis of previous incidents and what we know of its code, but this is what we came up with." Quint highlighted the first box in the flow chart. "Upon activating, the Book of Darkness examines its surroundings and decides upon a plan based on available resources and the spells it knows, seeking to cause as much destruction as possible."

She moved on to the next box.

"It then attempts to execute the plan, destroying anything that gets in its way, using the most powerful spell that has the primary effect it seeks to accomplish its goal."

The diagram split into two paths which rejoined immediately.

"Only if power levels are equal does it consider secondary effects, including the release if mana into the atmosphere."

A small loop led back to the second box.

"It continues in this way until its goal is accomplished or becomes unobtainable, at which point it decides upon a new plan."

Quint moved back to the first box.

"This continues until it is destroyed."

"If it was able to consider secondary effects at any point during the planning process, we estimate that it would take approximately three minutes from the Book's activation to the occurrence of a dimensional dislocation of a magnitude similar to the one which occurred at Earth." Chrono informed them grimly. "As the Book always causes less damage, over a longer period of time, while we can't say for sure that the Book is not responsible, if the Book is unchanged from its previous appearances then it is exceedingly unlikely."

Everyone mulled that over, and Harlaown and Nakajima fielded several more questions, but in the end no one disagreed with the analysis.

"So where does that leave us?"

"Either an unknown Lost Logia, or someone was distorting the fabric of reality, purposefully or otherwise, for unknown purposes." Chrono answered. "Possibly a combination of the two."

They were right back where they had started, Zest thought despairingly. No tips, no clues, no anything. They had investigated a few possible connections, but they had come up empty. The entire TSAB had their ears to the ground for clues, yet there was still nothing substantial.

"Why Earth?"

Everyone turned to look at the speaker. Admiral Lindy Harlaown stood up straight from where she had been leaning against the wall.

"Why Earth?" She repeated. "We've been avoiding committing to the belief that this was a criminal action, but given what we've ruled out, I think there is a very good chance that criminal activity is involved here somehow. So, if this was a crime, what is the motive?"

That… was a very good question.

"Well, that depends on whether or not the dislocation was intentional," Megane mused. "If we assume it was, then why would someone want to destroy Earth?"

They brainstormed for several minutes without much success.

"A weapons test?" offered one of the crew, and try as they might it was the most rational idea they had.

"What if it wasn't rational?" Lotte Liese suggested. "We can't assume that the person or persons responsible were sane."

"Good point," Amy Limietta said. "I mean, this was an entire planet full of people. Even if there was a reason to create a dimensional dislocation, why not out in the middle of nowhere? The universe is literally mostly empty space."

It was hard to argue with that.

"A personal connection maybe?" Chrono posited. "Even if they were insane, they would still have needed a reason to be on Earth in the first place. It wouldn't necessarily be a good reason, but Earth is kind of out of the way."

"For all we know, they might have just randomly picked it out of the database of Non-Administered Worlds," Quint pointed out. "But it is something to look into, at least."

Eventually, they started to run out of ideas, so Zest shifted the conversation over to the other possibility: What if the dislocation had been unintentional?

"Secrecy," Graham said immediately. "For magic-users, Earth must have been very inconvenient, especially if there was high-level research involved. As much as it pains me to admit it, Earth was a magical backwater. The TSAB had absolutely no foothold. For a criminal, secrecy is the biggest resource Earth would offer."

They spent another half an hour coming up with ideas, but nobody topped Graham's. The only thing Earth would have offered a criminal was a place to hide. Quite a boon for someone on the run, but an average criminal would have little to no chance of causing such a disaster. Whoever the perpetrator was, they were probably in possession of quite a bit of resources… enough resources that they probably wouldn't need to hide out on Earth.

"What is they were connected to that thing that attacked us?" suggested another crew member. "Or if not, what if they moved around like it did after we found it?"

"Definitely possible, but that doesn't help us much," Chrono said.

"We should keep in mind that the perpetrator almost certainly wasn't on Earth their whole lives," Lindy pointed out. "Whether they had a base which moved or they moved bases, either way they must have left some sort of trail behind."

"We haven't had much luck finding the trail, though," Megane responded.

Either way, every bit helped.

Quint brought up another good point:

"Well, regardless of if it was unintentional or not, there was either a Lost Logia or the perpetrator was messing around with time-space. Or both. What sort of equipment might they need and could we find out where it came from?"

Nobody knew off the top of their heads, but it was at least something to look into.

"They might also need an expert." One of the _Arthra_'s Enforcers suggested. "Someone who understands time-space manipulation really well. There can't be too many people like that, given how advanced that area is."

Eventually, after hours of exhaustive analysis, reasonable suggestions, and wild guesses, Zest called the meeting to a close.

"Thank you for your time and effort. Hopefully we will have a breakthrough soon."

Not the best pep talk, but that was Regius's forte, not his. Now all he had to do was go over his notes, and assign the team to look into the most hopeful leads. With a little luck, or a lot of it, they might manage to crack this case by the end of the month.

* * *

><p>"How are you holding up?" Lindy asked her old friend.<p>

Graham sighed. "Honestly? I'm not sure. I've been keeping myself busy, but…"

They sat together in silence.

"I don't feel better," he eventually said. "Now that I know that I am not the man who single-handedly destroyed Earth. I don't feel any less guilty. And it doesn't hurt any less."

"No, it doesn't work like that, does it?" Lindy asked rhetorically. "I don't think you will ever stop feeling guilty. Not fully. Do you know why?"

"Because I don't deserve anything else?" Graham answered tiredly, exhaustion showing in his sunken eyes.

"No, Gil." Lindy smiled sadly. "For the same reason I made your promise not to resign: because you are a good man, even when you try not to be. You will always feel guilty, not because you were caught, or because it turned out badly, but because what you did, what you planned to do, was wrong. You feel guilty for the right reasons. And that is why we refuse to give up on you."

"…Good men don't do what I was going to do to Hayate."

"And bad men don't give thirty percent of their salary up to try give a wheelchair bound little girl a happy childhood." Lindy countered.

Graham scoffed.

Lindy looked her old friend in the eyes. "Gil, the measure of a man is not his actions. Nor is it his reasons. It is both."

"I was going to sacrifice a little girl." Graham retorted. "It doesn't matter what my reasons were. I hardly think it balances out."

"Perhaps not," Lindy agreed. "But if Hayate appeared before you today holding the Book of Darkness, would you go through with your plan?"

Graham sighed. "…No. Not anymore. I don't think I could bring myself to sacrifice her."

Lindy nodded. "I won't lie. You screwed up. Things will never go back to the way they were. But you need to stop focusing on the man you used to be. You need to stop worrying about the man you are now. You need to start thinking about what kind of man you are going to be."

"…A better man than I was, I hope." Graham said eventually.

"Good enough for now." Lindy said approvingly, seeing that Graham was more focused than before. "For now, just take it one day at a time, and don't give up. You'll get there eventually. Now get some food and some sleep. You look half dead."

Graham nodded.

"And Gil, for the record? You're already a better man than you were before the dislocation."

Gil Graham did eventually get some sleep. But he had a lot to think about first.

* * *

><p>"Nakajima," Chrono called out, catching the investigator's attention. Quint turned and waited for him to catch up. "Thank you for talking about my father," he said quietly when he got close. "I don't think I could have kept a strong front if I had had to do it."<p>

"No problem," Quint assured him. "…Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

Chrono hesitated, but agreed. "I can't guarantee I'll answer, but I won't bite your head off."

"How are you dealing with the… issues with Admiral Graham?" Quint asked. "I can't imagine it's been easy for you."

Chrono sighed. "Honestly? I'm more worried about him than the… investigation."

The inflection he used made it clear he was talking about the less official part of the investigation.

"I don't… things…" Chrono searched for the right words. "I don't think that our relationship can ever be what it was. It is… tarnished, maybe? I don't know what he is to me anymore."

"But you still care about him," Quint noted gently. Chrono scrutinized her, but could find no accusation or rebuke.

"…Yes," he admitted. "I can't hate him. I pity him, I suppose. He hates himself more than I ever could."

Cases like this always got messy, Quint thought sadly. Even the most evil people could have loved ones. When it was someone admired, someone trusted, someone wasn't all bad… well, everyone involved got hurt. Harlaown's voice cut into her thoughts.

"Could I ask you about Alpine?"

"It isn't really my story to tell," Quint said apologetically. "But without getting too specific… She's hurting, and she's much more self-critical than she should be."

"Can I do anything to help?" Chrono asked. "Or is there anything I should avoid doing?"

Quint shook her head. "It's nice of you to offer, but more than anything else she needs time. Just… when in doubt, be supportive. In the end, none of us can do much more than that."

* * *

><p>The next day, Zest addressed the other three members of the team.<p>

"First, Harlaown, does the navy have any way of tracking dimensional tranfers?" He asked.

"Not if the, uh, 'transferee' casts the spell themselves. Or has someone do it for them," Chrono said. "If they use public facilities… maybe?" He shook his head. "I'll look into it if you want."

Zest nodded. "It might be a long shot, but it is worth checking. I'll leave that to you. Second, Quint." He turned to the purple-haired woman. "I want you to talk to your friends in R&D. Try and put together a list of specialized equipment that would be needed for working with dimensional distortions, then see if you can track down our hypothetical mad scientist that way."

"Yes, sir!"

"Alpine, I want you to work on the personal connection angle," Zest continued. "Try starting with immigration. You might have to go back a generation or more. Check TSAB records as well, criminal and otherwise – odds are, if someone left 97 it is because they had enough magic to look for a career using it. Be creative, I doubt we'll be lucky enough to find a simple connection. You might not find anything, but…"

Megane nodded understandingly. "Yes, sir!"

"I'll be putting feelers out into the academic community," Zest concluded. "I can't imagine there are that many people who have the right skill set for working with dimensional distortions and dislocations, so if our hypothetical criminals brought in a specialist I might be able to find something. Now, all of these could turn out to be dead ends, so use your own judgment. Let me know if you think your lead has petered out, and I'll reassign you. Hopefully we'll find something. We will keep using the same roster for tips as we have been. Let's get to work."

* * *

><p>"No, we haven't transferred anyone to that destination… ever, actually."<p>

Chrono sighed. "Alright. Thank you for your time."

He crossed that one off his list and moved on to the next.

"Hello, I am Enforcer Harlaown, assigned to the _Arthra_. Do you have any records of transferring anyone to Non-Administered Planet 97?"

* * *

><p>"There have only been five immigrants from 97 in the modern era," Megane informed Zest. "Three are Admiral Graham and his familiars. The other two are dead. Neither had children."<p>

* * *

><p>"No… I'm looking at the transactions for the past seven years, and the only groups that have bought that from us are universities and, well, you."<p>

"Me?" Quint asked, puzzled.

"You as in the TSAB, I mean," the secretary clarified.

"Do you have any records past that?" Quint queried.

"Um, no, we did not make that product before then. I can send you the list if you want?"

Quint drummed her fingers on her desk. "Yes, please do so. Thank you for your time."

* * *

><p>Chrono ducked beneath the fuchsia projectile launched by the enemy mage. With a cry of "Break Impulse!" he slammed S2U into her gut with a flash of blue, sending her reeling back towards Alpine, who slapped a Struggle Bind onto the mage with practiced ease.<p>

The last of the attackers dealt with, Chrono looked around the warehouse, which was liberally littered with unconscious bodies. In the middle of the room was a truck, the door open to reveal crates of hallucinogenics. He sighed.

"Great. A drug deal. I'll call it in, you tie them up."

"You can't prove anything!" The mage growled from her spot on the floor.

Megane rolled her eyes. "We told you, 'if you don't resist you'll be granted the right to plead in your own defense.' Attacking us immediately afterwards is practically a guilty plea."

"It wasn't very convincing, though! There were only two of you! How were we supposed to know to take you seriously?"

"I'm sure the judge will be very sympathetic to your plea of 'they didn't look scary enough.'" Megane said dryly as she divested the unconscious mages of their devices.

The sound of approaching sirens let them know that the local law enforcement was on its way.

"So, another bad tip?" Chrono asked.

"Looks like it, but maybe they'll be able to tell us something useful." Megane shrugged.

They didn't.

* * *

><p>"Actually, this is the first time in years that I've been contacted by someone not affiliated with the university or in the field."<p>

Zest nodded resignedly, a little in awe of the… impressive… lack of social interaction. "I don't suppose you have heard of anyone in the field dropping out of contact for a significant period of time?"

"No, I can't say I have."

* * *

><p>"Criminal records come up empty," Megane told Zest, stifling a yawn. "And other than Admiral Graham and his familiars, there is nobody in any branch of the TSAB that officially lists 97 as their homeworld. I'll start looking at other connections tomorrow."<p>

* * *

><p>"If there was some sort of researcher doing illegal experiments on Earth, they didn't get their equipment from the places I'm looking." Quint said. "I've checked for thefts as well, and while there have been one or two thefts the people responsible were caught quickly. Well, except for that one time when Scaglietti raided a truck depot. One of the trucks had some measuring devices."<p>

Zest groaned. "Knowing Scaglietti, he either threw them away, or he reverse engineered them and is supplying the entire underworld with them."

"Or both," Megane muttered darkly.

* * *

><p>"Sorry." The tech scratched his head. "We can't access the buoy's cache from here. They aren't designed to monitor traffic, just to make dimensional transfers safer by helping people determine their location in standard coordinates. If you could get it for me I could access the data manually, but I wouldn't be able to get you anything more than a time stamp for when it was last pinged."<p>

Chrono sighed. "It was a long shot anyway. Thank you for your time." They didn't even know if the buoy closest to Earth was still intact.

* * *

><p>"If there was some sort of researcher doing illegal experiments on Earth, they didn't get their materials from the places I'm looking." Quint said. "I'm moving on to raw materials."<p>

* * *

><p>"Pretty much everyone either stays in academia or joins the TSAB," the professor informed Zest. "If there's some other group working in the field, it's the first I've heard of it."<p>

* * *

><p>"Caffeine~" Quint cried out zombie-like, reaching for the pot with glazed eyes.<p>

Megane knocked her friend's hand away. "Wait for it to finish steeping, Quint. Tea takes time."

Chrono looked up at that. "Tea? Do you have any cream?"

Quint looked at him like he was crazy. "Cream? Who drinks tea with cream? It's supposed to be water and tea leaves, nothing else!"

"Hey, at least I can be patient," Chrono jabbed back.

Zest rolled his eyes, and drank his water.

* * *

><p>"Okay, so there was an entire truckload of high quality magical crystals that <span>might<span> be useful to a hypothetical researcher that was stolen. Bad news, it was 15 years ago, no eyewitnesses, no physical evidence, nothing." Quint grimaced. "I'll have a look, but I'm not hopeful."

* * *

><p><strong>Three and a half weeks into the investigation.<strong>

* * *

><p>Megane swallowed her tea wrong, and broke out in a fit of coughs.<p>

"You alright?" Quint asked from her workstation, but Megane waved her off and looked back at the screen.

She turned away, rubbed her eyes, and looked again.

"I think I found something," she said, stunned.

In short order, all four of them were gathered in front of the room's large monitor.

"Nanoha Takamachi," Megane read aloud. "Date of Birth: March 15, 0056, so she's nine years old. Place of Residence: Nakaoka Town, Uminari City, Japan, Non-Administered Planet #97." She smiled triumphantly. "Name of Device: Raising Heart, Type: Intelligent Device."

"This was entered into the system the day before the dislocation." Zest noted.

"There is no way that is just a coincidence." Quint said. "Well, it could be, but… oh, you know what I mean." She paused. "Why would someone give a nine-year-old from a non-magical world an intelligent device?"

"I don't know," Megane shrugged. "The second page of the document hasn't been filled in."

The four looked at each other.

"Let's visit the records office." Zest suggested.

* * *

><p>As it turned out, they had to go to MidChilda, as the paperwork had been submitted at the Cranagan office. Zest was famous enough among the Ground Forces that the team was ushered through to see the woman in charge without a second thought.<p>

"Good to see the three of you again," she said cheerfully to the Investigators. "I don't recognize your companion…"

"Enforcer Harlaown, assigned to the L-Class ship _Arthra_." Chrono supplied. "I'm working with them for this case."

"Pleased to meet you," the woman replied happily. "I'm Clarity Argent, ruler of all things in this city that are both TSAB-related and bureaucratic. Call me Clary."

'Clary' was young for an upper level administrator, being at most in her early thirties. The most remarkable thing about her was that the first thing you noticed about her was her smile. The reason this was so remarkable was that she was over seven feet tall, and even seated at her desk her stature was easily seen. She was, Chrono felt, entirely too cheerful for someone whose job presumably consisted of such things as doing paperwork about people doing paperwork.

"So what can I do for you today?" Clary loomed amicably.

"We want to know about the device registration paperwork for Nanoha Takamachi," Zest said. "It seems as though the computer copy is not fully filled out."

As he spoke, Clary's fingers flew across her keyboard, bringing up the document in question.

"And you would be right. Let me have a look… Aha!" She exclaimed. "Franklin was the last one to edit it. That explains it." Seeing confusion from the mages, she explained. "Franklin went out to lunch and got run over by a car. Got multiple compound fractures, so he's been out ever since. He must have been working on Takamachi's paperwork. I guess he never finished it."

"Do you still have the original document?" Chrono asked.

"Either that or a copy," Clary assured him. "Rule #1 around here: make sure the first thing you do when you get a document is copy it and file the copy in the stacks. You would not believe how many documents we've saved from 'death by spilled coffee' thanks to that policy. I'll go get it for you."

Sure enough, not two minutes later Clary returned with a stack of papers.

"Here you go," she said, handing them to Quint. "I stopped by the photocopier and ran that lot through, so feel free to take those with you."

"Thank you," Zest said, but was cut off by Quint.

"Uh, there's more than one form here."

"Yes, that's the paperwork from the Scrya clan that week," Clary informed her. "They send someone around about once a week with all of the forms that the clan has sent back to the family property just outside of Cranagan. I figured that you might want the whole stack, since most of it isn't in the system yet."

"And this one isn't a form at all," Quint said as she flicked through the stack. "Let's see, 'Report on Jewel Seed Incident at Non-Administered Planet #97' by Yuuno Scrya…" As she spoke, her eyebrows climbed higher and higher, and she trailed off as she read further.

She looked up at her team.

"I think we just got our lucky break."

* * *

><p>"Jewel Seeds, Jewel Seeds… here we go," Megane announced. "Unearthed by Yuuno Scrya, who turned them over to the TSAB for transportation. Only they never got to their destination… neither did the ship they were on, actually. Search and rescue operations were eventually launched, but they never found anything and have now been canceled indefinitely due to the dislocation."<p>

"Well, the story fits that," Quint said. "As do these diagrams of the Jewel Seeds. Well, they match the pictures, at least. We should get an expert to look at these, they're a bit more technical than I can handle."

Zest nodded absently, not looking away from his copy of Yuuno's notes. The Scrya was clearly a meticulous note-taker. There were 19 pages, filled on both sides by the small neat writing, interspersed by occasional diagrams.

Chrono spoke up. "Yuuno Scrya, nine years old, male. He is apparently a fully accredited archeologist. He's a ward of the Scrya clan, no parents listed. That's pretty much everything we know about him… He's never been involved in anything criminal, so we've never had any reason to collect information about him."

Zest finished reading and set the notes aside. "Alright, let's trust but verify where possible. Do we know anything about a 'Fate Testarossa'?"

* * *

><p>As it turned out, 'Fate Testarossa' might as well have been a ghost. But 'Testarossa' lead them to Precia Testarossa and her dead daughter Alicia, who <span>coincidentally<span> bore a stunning resemblance to a picture of 'Fate' that Yuuno had included in his notes.

"Okay, how's this for a theory," Chrono suggested weakly. "Precia puts Alicia in stasis of some sort, develops a way to heal her daughter, then resuscitates her. That explains how young she is. And the scars are from the accident that killed her."

Of course, none of them really believed that.

Eventually, after perusing Precia's psych profile and criminal record, and looking over the records from the disaster that had befallen Precia's laboratory, Quint spoke it out loud.

"Alicia is dead. But Precia is a known associate of Scaglietti. She uses his technology and grows a body physically identical to Alicia's. But she can't bring back the dead. The clone is a clone of Alicia, it isn't Alicia. And looking at Scrya's notes and the profile the criminal psychologists put together… Precia takes it out on Fate, physically. There doesn't seem to be any inclination that might lead towards sexual abuse, but this profile isn't exactly recent and I doubt Scrya would know how to look for signs of that so… I can't rule it out."

Megane nodded reluctantly, cringing at the thought. "That seems plausible. There's no way to verify it though. Still, the question becomes: Why is Precia Testarossa on Earth? Why does she care about the Jewel Seeds?"

"A power source, maybe?" Chrono suggested. "They don't seem to be good for much else unless you want to damage time-space or create monsters."

"Not necessarily," Zest disagreed. "Each of the activations Yuuno describes grants the wish of the activator in some way, and he specifically says that the Jewel Seeds respond to desire. No sane person would try to use that to their advantage, but for a woman obsessed with bringing her daughter back to life it might seem like an opportunity."

And suddenly it seemed very plausible for Precia Testarossa to want to activate a Jewel Seed. Or several.

Megane licked her lips nervously. "We need to run this by an expert but… Let's assume for a moment that activating all 21 Jewel Seeds would definitely cause a dislocation. Now, Nanoha and Yuuno don't have our resources, so they have no way to realize Precia Testarossa is involved. We know from these notes that in a gesture of good will, they gave up several Jewel Seeds. Not knowing what we know, when it seems to work and Precia offers to meet with them, they accept. And then… two nine-year-olds trapped in a room with an insane SS-class mage…"

She could not bring herself to continue. But no elaboration was needed.

"Precia activates the Jewel Seeds. And the dislocation occurs."

* * *

><p><em>Of course, a theory is just a theory. But their investigations into Yuuno and his notes left them with no substantial reason to doubt his words, and what evidence they could get their hands on seemed supportive.<em>

_There were a few oddities though._

* * *

><p>"Fifteen?"<p>

"If Scrya's analysis of the Jewel Seeds is right, then yes, 15 Jewel Seeds is the right number to cause a dislocation this size."

"So what happened to the other six?"

The scientist shrugged. "Maybe they were used in earlier experiments? Maybe they were held in reserve? Maybe whatever they were used for worked long enough to use up six before it went wrong? There could be any number of reasons."

* * *

><p><em>And not everyone accepted the likely conclusions.<em>

* * *

><p>"Yuuno will be fine," the Scrya clan elder insisted.<p>

Quint and Megane exchanged glances.

"It is possible that he is alright, ma'am, and we hope he is, but with every day that he remains missing-"

"Hmph!" The old woman cut her off. "Yuuno is strong! And smart! If anyone could survive, it would be him. So that is the possibility I believe in. I will keep faith until I see his body with my own eyes."

* * *

><p><em>In the end, they presented their information to their superiors.<em>

* * *

><p>"…Therefore, Precia Testarossa is wanted for questioning on suspicion of causing a dimensional dislocation at Non-Administered Planet #97. Should she be sighted, we ask that you do not approach her for your own safety. Instead, please contact the nearest law enforcement personnel at the first opportunity…"<p>

* * *

><p><em>And life went on.<em>

* * *

><p>"No mention of 'Fate'?" Zest asked Regius once the press conference was finished. He nodded to Regius's assistant, Auris, in greeting.<p>

Regius shook his head. "No, but we'll quietly pass the word around. No need to reveal everything we know to the whole universe. If Precia doesn't think we know about Fate, she might be more inclined to let her go out in public. We can't count on it working, but we might get lucky." He shrugged. "And, well, we'll need to tread carefully with her."

Zest nodded in agreement. Powerful child mages, especially ones raised in bad environments, could be… volatile. The last thing they needed was a pint-sized, electricity-spewing wrecking ball turning downtown into rubble because someone tried to take her in for her own good. Or, on the opposite end, tried to knock her unconscious for her own good. Best to find her, observe her, get a psychologist to give them some advice, then decide how best to handle things.

They got in the elevator to go up to Regius's office. Zest looked out the window, enjoying the view of Cranagan's skyline in the evening.

"Do you think we'll be able to find them?" Auris asked suddenly. "How likely is it that they are alive?"

Zest shrugged. "I do not know nearly enough about dislocations to give an educated answer. But I did ask around. When I asked them for the odds of surviving one, they all but laughed in my face. When I asked them if Precia Testarossa could have, they gave me a solid maybe. Before the accident that took her daughter's life, she was the genius. The brightest mind the TSAB had. Losing her and her work set us back years in dozens of fields. We cannot afford to assume that she is dead until we find her body."

The elevator chimed as they reached their destination, and the three of them disembarked.

"And Scrya and…" Auris searched her memory. "Takamachi?"

Zest grimaced. "Scrya is supposed to be quite talented at teleportation and defense, so there is some hope that they managed to escape Testarossa, but with every passing day it gets more and more likely that they are dead. I still hold out hope that Scrya is recuperating on some far-flung world under the care of an absentminded relative that never checks their mail, but…"

Regius rumbled in agreement. "After the first few days, the likelihood of a missing person being found alive drops sharply. It has been weeks."

Zest stifled a grimace as Regius unlocked his office. Regius could at least have sounded more sympathetic. Well, Zest was hardly one to talk considering that he did not use much inflection, but Regius used to be much livelier. Time and responsibility weighed down upon his friend.

"First and foremost, I have to thank you for your hard work," Regius said as he settled into his chair. "You and your team started with practically nothing, yet in less than a month we have a warrant out for the prime suspect. Good job."

"There was a significant amount of luck involved," Zest said truthfully.

"I want you to be there when we send a ship to 97," Regius said, "but that won't be for over a year. Closer to two years, actually, if I remember correctly. If you want, I'll put you back on Scaglietti in the meantime."

Zest considered. It was nice of Regius to offer to put him back on the Scaglietti case like he had promised, but he doubted the team that had been moved to the Scaglietti case would appreciate being tossed around like that. It had been only four weeks since they had been reassigned, and Zest did not intend to inconvenience them just because he wanted to be the one to catch Scaglietti.

"That will not be necessary," Zest decided. "Let that team keep the Scaglietti case for a while, perhaps their approach will yield more results than mine. We seem to have a good rapport going with the crew of the _Arthra_, so I would not be averse to maintaining the joint task force until this case is resolved."

Regius blinked, surprised. He chuckled, and a smile slipped onto his face. If Zest didn't know better, he would think Regius looked almost relieved. "Well, I won't argue with that, even if 'task force' is a big name for me lending the navy three of my subordinates. Our relationship with the navy has improved over the past few weeks…" He nodded, coming to a decision. "I have a meeting with Admiral Crowbel tomorrow, so I'll discuss the subject with her then. I'll let you know as soon as we decide on a course of action."

Zest nodded, and left upon Regius' implicit dismissal.

Regius activated the projectors built into his desk. As the screens flickered to life, he grimaced slightly at the time. "Auris, go ahead and head home for the day. Tomorrow we will likely need to stay late, so make sure you are well rested."

Auris saluted. "Yes, sir."

Regius waited until he could no longer hear his subordinate's footsteps, then got out of his seat, walked to the door, and closed and locked it. He closed the window shutters and dimmed the lights slightly, then activated the secret function of his desk. He sat at his desk as the room was swept for cameras and microphones, and a soundproof barrier rose up to ensure nobody could listen in.

Then, and only then, did the three familiar screens appear. The High Council awaited his report.

* * *

><p>Zest held the elevator open for Auris when he saw her heading his way.<p>

"Going back down already?" He asked.

Auris nodded. "He dismissed me for the day."

They stood together in silence for several seconds as the elevator descended.

"So, how is it being your father's assistant?" Zest asked.

Auris sighed. "Better than I had worried. Worse than I had hoped. I work hard, but… I do wonder if I have really earned my position. On the other hand, I'm finally being helpful instead of just being an annoyance. Not that he would ever say that, but…"

Zest nodded sympathetically. "How is he doing, really? I hardly see him outside of work these days, so it is hard to tell."

"Work weighs on him, but he seems to be handling it well," Auris said. "Pretty good, all things considered. He finally made it to the top, and now he can slowly start to make changes like he always wanted to." She smirked. "I think that's part of the reason he chose me to be his assistant. He kept going through one after another, but they kept whining whenever he did something different from his predecessor. He doesn't have to worry about that with me."

Zest smiled faintly. Good to know that Regius hadn't changed completely. "Do not let the opinions of your peers get to you," he advised. "Once you go up a few more ranks no one will question your right to your position."

Auris gave him a wry look. "I rather think it will take more than 'a few' ranks. As if being fast-tracked by my father wasn't enough to make people question me, I'm also several years younger and a foot shorter than anyone else at my level, and people do care about that even if they aren't supposed to. Maybe once I'm a Major, but I'll be lucky if that happens inside of a decade."

"Nothing worth doing is easy," Zest told her. "Your father has no tolerance for incompetence. You may have his eye because you are his daughter, but he would never have chosen you if you were untalented. Given his high standards, I have no doubt the promotion board will also look favorably upon you."

The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open.

"Thanks," Auris said quietly.

Zest simply smiled.

* * *

><p>"So, it seems you are going to be with us a while yet, Gil." Admiral Crowbel observed.<p>

"If you want me," Graham agreed.

"You won't be allowed to continue in your current duties, but I do have a new position open." Crowbel informed him. "It's a liaison position. We feel that we need better coordination between the Navy and the Ground Forces. It will likely be an utterly thankless job with an absurd amount of politics involved, but if you do it well it will do a lot of good."

"And allow both the Navy and Ground Forces to keep an eye on me," Graham noted.

Crowbel nodded, and Graham was unsure whether to be pleased or worried by her honesty. "It is a stressful position, so if necessary we may have to have you retire if we find any issues," Crowbel warned him. "And we both know I'm not just talking about health complications. You keep your nose clean, understood? Don't make us feel we misplaced our trust."

"I won't." Graham promised. "I'm grateful that you are giving me a second chance. I have no intention of requiring a third."

"Very good." Crowbel said, pushing a small stack of papers across her desk. "Read these over, they should give you an idea of what your job will entail. Ask me if you have any questions. You start next Monday."

* * *

><p>"So, it seems you will be with us a while longer," Lindy observed. "My orders boil down to 'take them with you, play nice'. I assume yours are the same?"<p>

"More or less," Zest acknowledged. "I am not quite officially under your command, but as we will be living and working on this ship I will treat you as my superior in order to streamline the chain of command."

"And I have no problems with you acting as Chrono's superior in combat." Lindy said with a smile. "It is rather nice to work with reasonable people, is it not?"

Zest smiled in agreement.

"So, did you turn down the offer to go back to the Scaglietti case because you don't want Investigator Alpine to fight those cyborgs while pregnant?" Lindy asked curiously.

Zest blinked. He blinked again. A look of chagrin spread across his face. "Actually, I did not even think about it. I completely forgot about that."

Lindy giggled.

Zest frowned. "Wait, how did you know about that?"

"Woman's intuition," Lindy said piously, then smirked. "Also, I know you were promised the Scaglietti case. As you are still here, it was a safe bet that you decided not to take it back."

Zest wondered how she knew Regius had promised to let him go back to the Scaglietti case, but he wisely decided not to give the Admiral another chance to make fun of him. She would no doubt have plenty of opportunities over the coming months. No need to give her one for free.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

**Here you go, the investigation in one chapter. I could have dragged it out, but that would have been pointless and annoying. You probably won't be seeing much of the TSAB for the next several chapters, but don't worry, they'll be back later.**

**I had fun with this one. I wrote the first scene by pretending I didn't know what happened on Earth, and just throwing random ideas out. Of course, this universe being what it is, the only real options are 'ancient artifact', 'mad scientist', 'lab accident', and 'all of the above'. Well, there is always normal criminal activity, but that doesn't generally cause massive damage to the fabric of space-time.**

**Read through carefully, and try to figure out what the TSAB got right, and what they got wrong!**

**Now, in every chapter there is always a scene or two that just adds itself in at the last moment. In this chapter, I initially had no plan for Auris to show up, but I decided to include her because she is a recurring minor character, and it was easy to add her to the scene with Regius and Zest. I also realized that when I previously used her, she was Regius' assistant. But, well, she probably shouldn't have been. After all, that is what she is doing ten years down the road in StrikerS. Also, going by how old she seems to be in StrikerS, she is probably in her teens at the moment, further making it unlikely.**

**Fortunately! The TSAB seems to accept people in at rather young ages. So I wrote up the scene with Auris and Zest, turning a minor plot hole into a minor plot point. Yay me!**

**If anyone is wondering, 'Clary' is not going to be a major character. I just wanted someone a bit less faceless to deliver Yuuno's notes to the investigators. In true Nanoha fashion, her name was created by going to a random car website, (Honda, if I remember correctly) grabbing the name of a vehicle, picking another name out of a hat, and slamming the two together. She is now my go-to character if I need a non-obstructive bureaucrat, but I currently have no plans to require one of those.**

**For those of you who wondered where Nanoha's device registration form and Yuuno's notes magically appeared from, I mentioned both briefly in Chapter 5. Why have I not mentioned either since? Well, because neither Nanoha nor Yuuno have given any thought to the matter since the Garden of Time. They have had numerous other things to worry about.**

**You know, I'm not sure when I decided on how this chapter was going to go. Was it before or after chapter 5? I can't remember. I suppose this is either good planning or a significant amount of luck that everything worked out.**

**A couple of people asked last chapter if the Infinity Library can be used to determine if Earth is still there. This is what I told them:**

Why the library can't get books from earth:

Because it only collects books from Administered Worlds. The Library was created during a tense period between the final dissolution of the Belkan Era powers and the TSAB becoming the widely acknowledged power. If the Library didn't have limits, it might have been seen as a sort of Big Brother like in 1984. Just imagine, the capacity to obtain any written document from anywhere. The mere THREAT of such a thing might have kick-started a war. This isn't the sort of thing I can fit into the story easily, but the way I envision it is that there is a sort of 'register'. It's rather user friendly. The way it works is that publishing companies and Administered Worlds code in a set of coordinates corresponding to a location where they place, at least briefly, a copy of each book/document/whatever (think something like the Library of Congress). The library, somehow, creates a copy of its own and puts it on one of the shelves.

As Earth is not administered, the Library can't get books from there.

**And now you know.**


	13. Chapter 13: Interlude, With Numbers

**Probably not the chapter you were looking for, but this is the best place to slot these scenes into the story. Anyway, this was a short, quick chapter. I haven't finished the Earth chapter yet, but I did have these lying around, so here you go.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 13: Interlude, with Numbers<p>

* * *

><p>"More focus on equipment?" Uno asked.<p>

Jail's smirk marginally increased. "Yes, Dieci's success has convinced me. Dedicating energy resources to weaponry instead of body augmentation will be the way to go, I believe. Or rather, a better balance. Augmentation is good for close combat, so I don't want to do away with it entirely."

Uno nodded. "An excellent idea." For a regular human, combat effectiveness would be compromised if they specialized too much. But for a cyborg, already much faster and stronger than a normal human due to their mechanical enhancements, greater specialization could be advantageous. And mana could always be used for enhancements if necessary. No need to use up the limited and valuable energy used for Inherent Skills for augmentation. "Shall I dispose of our current cultures or preserve them for later?"

Jail's eyes flicked across the list Uno presented him with. "Keep the Nakajima culture for later. Incinerate the rest."

Uno nodded in acknowledgement and swept the rest of the list into the 'discard' folder. She would wait for a few days before actually incinerating them in case the Doctor suddenly found a use for them.

"Tredia Graze contacted us again." Uno said, amused. "He is offering us his robot army if you will help speed up the production process."

Jail twitched. "No. Just… no. When I make my robot army, it will by my army, made with my design for my purpose. Not some other moron's pet project. Who is Tredia Graze, anyway?"

"Some archeologist who thinks he has found a way to turn corpses into useful minions," Uno said disparagingly. "You advised him on how to get the process started a couple years ago."

"…Huh," Jail said, perplexed. It was an unusual look on his face. "I can't say I remember him. What sort of robot army was it?"

"Nonmagical. Think exploding zombies." Uno smirked. "You spent about five minutes looking at the schematics, burst out laughing, told him how to get a production line going, then slept for a day and a half."

"A day and a half? I never sleep that long."

Uno smirked wider. "I had you sedated until the drug was out of your system."

Jail groaned. "Oh, right, now I remember. Or don't. That explains a lot."

"And the moral of the story…" Uno said leadingly.

"Don't self-medicate, especially with experimental drugs," Jail grumbled obediently. "I learned my lesson! No need to keep reminding me of it."

Uno looked pointedly at a small bottle of blue pills on one of the tables. It hadn't been there yesterday. "So, if I pulled up the footage from the security camera from last night, I wouldn't see you making those?"

Jail shifted nervously. "I haven't taken any. It doesn't count."

Uno smiled, sickly sweet. "I'm afraid it does. Which means I will be leading the next surgery."

"…Fine." Jail grumbled, looking like she had killed one of his favorite abominations without recording the process properly for future reference. Uno didn't give in.

"Now, what did you want to do about Tredia Graze?" Uno asked as she pocketed the pills.

Jail sniffed, and decided to vent on Graze just a little. "Eh, tell him to send me what he has and I'll take a look at it. It'll be a good laugh if nothing else. I'm thinking string him along for a while, then give him something that almost works right, but will eventually get him killed horribly if he isn't careful."

"Very well," Uno said, and paused to listen to something only she could hear. "Due says she is going out with Dieci. Something about 'female bonding'."

* * *

><p>An explosion rocked the dusty mountainside as a glowing lance of energy impacted the rocky surface. Birds fled their suddenly dangerous hiding places, filling the air with their angry, frightened cries. Several rodents dashed for the relative safety of their burrows.<p>

Due whistled appreciatively at the size and depth of the crater. "Very nice, Dieci! Your skill might be more mundane than the rest of ours, but seeing it in action I have to say I'm quite impressed!"

Dieci smiled awkwardly and holstered her imaginatively named 'Enormous Cannon' on her back. Due could tell how young the other cyborg was from the slight pause before the smile; Dieci must still be relying on her programmed responses in social situations, something that she would overcome with time.

"Thank you," Dieci said blandly. Due made a mental note to give the girl some pointers on inflection. "The Doctor believes my range and power should surpass the vast majority of the TSAB mages," Dieci added on as an afterthought.

"I can believe it." Dieci eyed the crater again. "So you have less body enhancement, but more firepower."

"Yes, the Doctor seems to consider it a beneficial trade-off." Dieci hesitated. "You are familiar with… 'normal' society?"

Due smiled. "Yes, very much so. I need to be in order to use Liar's Mask effectively," she said, referring to her shape shifting ability. "Is there something you want to know?"

"Is the Doctor's behavior… normal?" Dieci asked.

Due tapped her index finger against her bottom lip as she considered her answer. "Well, I suppose the short answer is no. To an extent, it's just his personality. He naturally gets all dramatic and excited about things. He's also insane, which can lead to him doing abnormal things."

"The doctor is insane?" Dieci frowned.

"Yeah, he's got serious psychological issues. Starting with Narcissistic Personality Disorder and getting worse from there." Due supplied.

Dieci's frown deepened. "Does that not bother you?" She asked.

"Not really," Due shook her head. "See, the Doctor is smart enough to realize that sanity has its advantages. Uno is pretty much a female, sane… well, saner… clone of the Doctor, and he designed her to be the perfect assistant. So basically, Uno is so useful to that Doctor that she has enough leverage to keep his worst tendencies in check…"

Due stopped to think for a minute, her partially mechanical mind 'helpfully' supplying her with a list of her recent activities. But what's a little murder and identity theft and more murder and more identity theft and theft of an important religious artifact and even more murder among friends?

"…When it really matters." Due shrugged. "He's medicated most of the time anyway, though the side effects of the drugs can make him a bit… inconsistent. Regardless, you don't need to worry about it. We older cyborgs aren't particularly good people, but Uno, Tre, and I are looking out for you. The only people who have to worry about the Doctor are our enemies."

"…Okay," said Dieci quietly. "…I don't think you are a bad person, Due." Dieci decided.

Due ruffled Dieci's spiky hair. "Ah, thanks little sis. But not being a bad person doesn't make me a good one either. I'm a hardened criminal, after all."

If it helped her family, she'd slaughter worlds. And she'd enjoy every second of it. She wished it bothered her more.

* * *

><p>"Rumble Detonator."<p>

The knife, buried in the mechanical golem's chest, exploded, filling the inner workings of the robot with shrapnel. The golem crumpled to the floor lifelessly.

Cinque stepped over the corpse and scanned the room carefully, but no further enemies appeared. "Clear," she announced. "Come on in-"

A loud crunch behind her caused the young girl to spin about frantically, throwing knives materializing in her hands. Upon seeing what had caused the noise, she relaxed.

"Tre," the white-haired girl said.

"Be more careful, Cinque," Tre advised as she stepped off of the golem's crushed head. "You only immobilized it. They are still more than capable of shooting while the central processing unit and power source are online."

Cinque nodded, noting belatedly the arm-cannon aimed at her back.

"Still, good work," the older, purple-haired woman decided. "Sein, Quattro, come on in."

Sein's finger emerged from the floor, turned back and forth so that the camera on the fingertip got a good look around to verify there was enough space, then withdrew. Moments later Sein and Quattro rose out of the ground as though it was water.

"Ah, that was fast," Quattro chirped, her pigtails bobbing slightly. "You're getting pretty good at this, Cinque!"

"Meh," Sein shrugged. "I still don't get it. Didn't whatshername give all of her stuff to the Doctor? Why do we have to fight our way through her defenses?"

"Stop whining," Tre scolded. "Doctor Testarossa was successful in routing the TSAB's efforts to apprehend her for a reason, and it isn't because she leaves off-switches on her defenses."

"So she's a paranoid nutjob," Sein deadpanned.

Quattro humphed, indignant. "A highly successful, incredibly intelligent, paranoid nutjob, Sein!" Quatro proclaimed, wagging her index finger in Sein's face. "Doctor Testarossa is a model-"

"Insane criminal mastermind?" Cinque offered helpfully.

"Exactly!" Quattro chirped, clapping her hands together.

"Quattro," Sein said slowly, "that isn't necessarily a good thing,"

The cape-wearing woman sniffed, adjusting her glasses. "Oh, please. We only exist due to the Doctor's willingness to experiment with," she rolled her eyes and made air-quotes, "'unethical' projects. Since it's so different when the TSAB High Council does it!"

Tre cut the imminent rant short. "Enough. We have work to do."

"Fine," Quattro pouted, then perked up. "The sooner we start, the sooner we finish!" She grinned, her glasses gleaming in the low light of her holographic keyboards as she tore into Precia's firewalls.

* * *

><p>It was disturbing, how Quattro acted. Due felt offended by her perky little charade. Due worked hard under all sorts of masks, but she always took them off when she was with family. It kept her grounded somewhat, reminded her who she really was under the lies she cloaked herself in.<p>

Apparently, Quattro did the opposite. About the only honest thing in Quattro's personality was her hero worship of Due and Precia. Which was not exactly healthy. Due would be the first to admit that she was not exactly an upstanding member of society, but Precia's body count was horrific even to her. Quattro was creepy beyond belief.

"…and you brought back the Shroud of the Saint King!" Quattro squealed. "How did you do it?"

But at the end of the day, Quattro was her sister. And she appreciated Due's work like no one else did. Quattro liked Due for herself, not in spite of herself. She didn't have the strength to give up something so precious.

"Well," Due began her story. "I knew that just breaking in would be too risky, so I started at a different church with a particularly promising young nun, and I studied her until I knew I could take her place…"

* * *

><p>Sein swam silently beneath the ground, her Inherent Skill allowing her to travel through the inorganic material as though it was water. Coming to a halt, she tentatively reached out in front of her, her finger passing through the surface in front of her. The camera on her fingertip allowed her to see out the other side, and she swiveled it one way then another, trying to get a good look-<p>

A blur of motion, and the camera went dark as someone grabbed Sein's finger. Sein tried to pull away, but it was no use, and in moments Sein was dragged out into the open.

Tre, looking very unimpressed, let the shorter cyborg dangle helplessly. "What do you think you are doing?"

"…Scouting practice?" Sein suggested hopefully.

Tre grunted and dropped Sein into the hot tub. Once Sein resurfaced, her blue hair plastered to her skull, she spoke. "Turn the camera off and take a bath, or go away."

Sein sulked, but shucked her bodysuit and joined Tre for a soak.

"Why were you trying to spy on me, anyway?" Tre asked. "You're what, four? Are you even interested in that kind of thing?"

Sein snorted. "I have boobs, I'm at least a pre-teen. I reserve the right to have hormones. Cinque's the only one of us who looks like a kid, anyway."

"You are also my little sister," Tre said bluntly.

"We're not related," Sein smirked. "So I see no harm in looking."

"And I see no harm in an extra hour of hand-to-hand practice."

Sein winced. "Okay, okay, point taken. Yeesh! You need to loosen up."

"Two hours?"

"Shutting up now."

* * *

><p>"Uno."<p>

Jail's opposite gender clone turned to see Cinque approaching her. The petite girl looked around nervously as she approached.

"Is the Doctor… stable today?" Cinque asked quietly. "I want to discuss the possibility of modifying Shell Coat and… well, I want to make sure he's less… energetic than he was the last time."

Uno winced, remembering. She had mistakenly tried a new drug cocktail that was supposed to have helped smooth out the Doctor's erratic emotions. She still wasn't entirely sure what had gone wrong, but poor Cinque had been terrified by the manic glee with which the Doctor had torn into her equipment. Everything had turned out well (the Doctor's adjustments had been quite successful) but Cinque was understandably not willing to risk a repeat performance.

"Yes, he's doing just fine. He's actually working with Dieci at the moment."

A muffled explosion could be heard from the Doctor's workspace. Uno twitched. There was a testing range. She had set it up herself. Why did the Doctor never use it?

"Success!" Jail announced proudly, handing the cannon back to Dieci. "Go ahead and put it through its paces. I'll be designing various munitions for it at some point, so I'll let you know when I have something. Ah, Cinque, how are you doing today?"

"I am doing well, Doctor." Cinque said politely. "I wanted to talk to you about my defensive Inherent Equipment if you have time…"

"Oh, I always have time for my daughters," Jail assured her. "Let me see Shell Coat, and we can talk about what you want."

Cinque took off her grey overcoat and handed it to her creator. "I was wondering if I could drop the Anti-Magilink Field by a little and boost the power of Hard Shell instead."

"Should be doable. Any particular reason?" Jail asked with interest.

Cinque, now significantly more relaxed, answered readily as they walked further into the lab.

Uno turned her attention to Dieci. "So what changes did he make?"

"I should now be able to deliver a physical payload if necessary." Dieci said as she shouldered her cannon. "I will have more tactical options this way, once he designs a variety of munitions."

"Well, let me know if you have any special requests, and I'll make sure it ends up on his to-do list." Uno said.

"Mm. Thank you."

* * *

><p>"So, found anything interesting yet?" Due asked curiously.<p>

"No, I'm still decoding." Uno shook her head in annoyance. "Quattro managed to get the files, but apparently Doctor Testarossa's computers automatically encrypt anything that is transferred to an external location. She truly takes paranoia to an art form."

Due shrugged. "Hey, you know what they say. It's not paranoid if they really are out to get you. And the TSAB is definitely out to get her." She paused. "Is she even alive anymore?"

Uno hummed noncommittally. "No way to know for sure at the moment. I suspect we'll never know."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, think about it. She's either made it to Al Hazard, or she's dead. If she's dead, we'll never see her again. If she made it to Al Hazard, she'll either successfully revive Alicia, or she won't. If she doesn't, she'll keep on trying until she dies, and we'll never see her again. If she does, then she will either be trapped in Al Hazard for the rest of her life with Alicia, in which case we'll never see her again, or she will escape with Alicia, head to some far-flung Non-Administered World, and never talk to us again."

Due scrunched up her forehead as she thought that through. "Sounds reasonable. But you don't think she'll send us a message or anything?"

"No reason to break operational security," Uno said with a shrug.

Due gave her a dry look. "Raising her daughter isn't an operation."

"It would be to her." Uno insisted. "She's obsessive. If she is successful, she is never going to allow herself or Alicia to be associated with anything in TSAB territory for as long as she lives. She won't risk being found out, because that might lead to the TSAB separating her from Alicia."

"That's… kind of sad, actually." Due said. "Kids shouldn't have to live like that."

"We live under similar constraints, for similar reasons," Uno pointed out.

"Yeah, and look how we're turning out." Due sighed, gesturing vaguely at the two of them. "You, me, Tre, we're damaged goods. The kids aren't as bad as we are… except Quattro, who I swear is worse… but still."

Uno gave her sister a reassuring smile. "That's why we're doing this. So we don't have to keep doing things like this. So our sisters don't become like us."

Due hummed, her melancholy not dispersed. "But even if we do succeed, would there really be a place for a monster like me?"

"You're no monster, Due." Uno said insistently. "And even if you were, you are my beloved sister. There will always be a place for you. Always."

Due thought of her claws slicing through flesh, the beautiful sound exciting her with visceral satisfaction, the ferrous tang of spilt blood invigorating her as she tore away at her hapless victim. She shivered, not in fear but in pleasure.

"Thank you for saying that." Due whispered.

But she knew better. It took a monster to enjoy her kind of work.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

**There you go. I've fleshed out the characters some, which is important because there are quite a few Numbers yet to come and I want them all to have at least a little meat to their characterization. I don't want them to be utterly unlikeable, but I also don't want them to be completely likeable. Some of them are more sympathetic than others, but they are all distinctly different from Precia.**

**For those of you who have never seen StrikerS: Yes, these are definitely the good guys. Heroes of the show. Would I lie to you? **

**(Don't answer that, I'm clearly being sarcastic.)**

**Unlike A's, StrikerS is still in flux. But with every TSAB or Numbers scene I set the stage a little more and things are starting to take shape.**

**I'll go back to writing the new chapter now.**


	14. Chapter 14: Haze of Green and Gold

**I had two major problems that delayed this coming out. First, I realized that I wanted at least one more scene with the Wolkenritter, since I had almost none. Second, after weeks of trying to think of ideas, I got hit by a bunch all at once and, ironically, couldn't fit them all into this chapter properly, so I spent days agonizing over how to move everything around to fit as much as I could in. Which was an exercise in futility, so I just eventually threw in the towel.**

**So now it's like two or three months late, with a slightly below average word count. Sheesh.**

**Anyway, whoever can tell me where the chapter title comes from without googling it gets a metaphorical cookie.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 14: In This Haze of Green and Gold<p>

* * *

><p>"If it's casting speed you worry about the most, you should just use simpler approximations," Fate suggested.<p>

Nanoha shook her head as she shoveled fried rice into her mouth. "I-"

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Momoko chided.

Nanoha swallowed. "Sorry Mom. Anyway, I don't really want to have a trade-off."

"Don't get too bogged down in the math," Yuuno counseled, gesturing with his chopsticks. "It's a guided shooting spell, not a barrier or a transport spell. It doesn't really make much of a difference if it is a little off, and you can compensate on the fly if you need to."

Nanoha nodded thoughtfully.

"I've been wondering," Kyouya said. "What exactly are you doing with all of these equations? What exactly is magic?"

Yuuno munched on his food for a few seconds before he realized that everyone had turned to him expectantly.

"…Why are you all looking at me?"

"You're the exposition guy," Arf said bluntly. "Exposit."

"What? Seriously?" Yuuno sputtered incredulously. "I do other things!"

"Yeah!" Nanoha agreed. "He does… pretty much everything other than shooting magic, actually."

"Ah, right." Arf said with a smirk. "Sorry, Nanoha, I didn't mean to insult your familiar."

"He's her familiar?" Fate asked curiously. "But I thought-"

"I'm not!" Yuuno insisted. Nanoha nodded in agreement, her mouth full of rice again.

"Of course, ferret boy, of course." Arf smirked.

The 'ferret' shot her an annoyed glare, then turned his attention to Kyouya. "Well, to be honest I'm not really sure how to answer. I guess, if I had to define magic…" Yuuno thought about it for several seconds. "The capacity for an entity… no, a sentient entity… to psychically manipulate… hyperdimensional energy… to affect the world around them. Something like that." Yuuno shrugged, chagrined. "The thing about magic is that while we can use it, measure it, even understand a little about how it works, we don't actually know what it is. That's why we call it magic, I guess. But I'm hardly an authority on the subject. I'm an archeologist, not a scientist."

"Well, the most important thing is that we can make it work safely and reliably." Arf paused, looking upwards reflexively. "Usually," she self-corrected.

"It is…" Yuuno considered, then brightened. "Like electricity. If you are careful, you can do all sorts of things with it, but you don't want to start chewing on the wires or sticking things in wall sockets."

As Yuuno stopped to grab another bite of his meal, Fate hesitantly spoke up.

"…I can try to explain about the equations…" She fiddled with her chopsticks. "If you want…?"

"Certainly," Momoko said immediately, making sure to smile brightly as Fate looked her way. Fate's nervousness dampened down almost instantly upon seeing the small gesture of approval, and once again Momoko dearly wished to punch Precia's lights out.

"We don't actually need to do any calculations to do magic," Fate explained. "Just… wishing?... is enough." She bit her lip. "There are no words that are quite right for it. It's willpower and desire, mostly. Once you do it the first time it just… comes naturally."

Nanoha, Yuuno, and Arf all nodded in agreement.

"And that's fine if you want to do simple things, like this." Fate concentrated, and floated one of her chopsticks in the air. "But if I wanted to lift several chopsticks, and then move them around, that is starting to take a lot of focus. The more complicated what I want to do is, the more likely something will go wrong. People can multi-task, a little, but it's really just switching focus quickly back and forth. It's rare to actually be able to parallel process. So we make a spell."

Fate produced a basic Mid-Childan magic circle over her plate: A ring, bounded by two squares rotated 45 degrees apart, which in turn were surrounded by another ring. In both rings, the Greek letters pi, delta, omega, and nu were displayed. The concentric rings and squares rotated at various speeds.

"A spell is essentially a program. We include everything we need into it, and it shows up in the circle. Even a basic shooting spell needs feedback so I know what is happening, containment fields to maintain each of the bullets at the proper densities, path descriptors, power modifiers…"

As she spoke, symbols began to fill in the inner ring, quickly forming two overlapping layers of rotating notations.

"Putting everything into one diagram gives a single thing to focus on," Fate explained. "Instead of focusing on all of the individual parts of the spell, I can focus on the spell as a whole. To be useful a magic circle has to be intuitive to the user, so there can be vast differences in how it looks due to personal modifications."

"So the circle isn't the spell itself, it's a mnemonic?" queried Shirou.

"Yes, I suppose that's a good way to put it." Fate nodded. "But it isn't just an aid, it's also a workspace, and it can be modified while in use. It's also possible to supplement with concentration aids such as arias and specific movements that help trigger the spell. None of them are necessary, but it does help.

"It is possible to 'brute force' a spell, just pushing lots of mana into it to make it work, but that's extremely inefficient. So in addition to maintaining focus, I also have to calculate how much energy the spell needs, and more specifically, how much energy each part of the spell needs and how to direct it."

The outer ring of the circle filled in then, completing the magic circle.

"Then you calculate and cast," Fate said in conclusion. "Um, that's about it, I think."

Yuuno nodded. "More or less. There are… about 900?" He considered. "A little less than 900 documented magic systems, so there is lots of variation possible. We all use the Mid-Childan magic system, while Hayate's…" He groped for an appropriate word.

"She calls them her family," Momoko supplied. "She's rather insistent about that."

"Hayate's family uses… Ancient Belkan, I think. I haven't asked but I have gotten a good look at Shamal's circle and I'm pretty sure it's Ancient Belkan. Does that answer your questions?" He asked Kyouya.

"Indeed it does." Kyouya responded with a smile. "Thank you, Yuuno, Fate."

Fate flushed and turned her attention to her meal, unsure how to respond.

"I have a question," Miyuki spoke up just when Yuuno was about to start eating again. He suspected that was no coincidence. "What's Ancient Belkan?"

Yuuno gave her a dirty look, and made a point of taking several more bites before answering.

"Ancient Belka was the dominant superpower before Mid-Childa. They controlled a significant number of worlds, but their careless use of mass weapons led to their home planet becoming uninhabitable and in the chaos their empire collapsed. Their rulers, the Saint Kings, attempted to regain control of their former territory after migrating to their peripheral worlds, but their former subjects opposed them, resulting in the Saint King Unification War…"

* * *

><p>Shamal stared disconcertedly at Shirou and Momoko. They wanted her to what?<p>

"We wouldn't ask, but, well, you are the best option available to us," Momoko said apologetically.

Shamal rubbed her forehead. "Look, while, yes, I am capable of acting as a psychologist in theory, I am not a therapist. My prior experience consists primarily of exploiting psychological issues, not fixing them. I am, first and foremost, a support unit. I'm a battlefield medic. Child psychology is about as far removed from that as you can get."

"But," Shirou countered. "Fate can be honest with you. Any other psychologist and Fate would have to stick to her official history here. A history that does not include magic, being raised by a catgirl and a mad scientist on some sort of hollowed out asteroid, or being a clone created in a failed attempt to bring a dead girl back to life."

Shamal grimaced. "Good point. With so many limitations, I can't imagine much would be accomplished."

The knight consulted her comrades, their telepathic network a constant presence as always.

"They would owe us." Vita pointed out.

"It would decrease tensions if all goes well, but may escalate to conflict if it goes awry." Zafira sent. "But given Shamal's capabilities, the risk is negligible."

Shamal frowned slightly. "As I told the Takamachi's–"

Signum cut her off. "While you may not be able to help much, I do not believe for an instant that you will make her situation worse." Zafira and Vita chimed in their agreement.

"How much time would this take?" Signum asked.

"I won't be able to get a good estimate until after a few sessions," Shamal said. "Maybe a few hours each week? It would be a long-term commitment though. Months probably, maybe years? I'm not sure. If I've done something like this before I can't find it in my memories."

They considered.

"…Hayate would want us to help, I think." Vita sent.

Signum agreed. "Zafira, please convey the situation, and our recommendation, to Hayate."

As Zafira spoke with Hayate, Shamal returned her full attention to Shirou and Momoko. They were still waiting patiently, though Momoko fidgeted occasionally.

A minute or so late, Zafira transmitted Hayate's orders. Well, 'Of course she can' was not an order per se, but it was about as close as they were going to get and though they still found it hard to deal with that they were learning to cope.

"Very well." Shamal said. "I am willing to try to help."

"Thank you," said Momoko earnestly.

"I will need time to prepare, and I also need to know as much as you can tell me about Fate's past." Shamal's mind raced, pulling together a list of things she would need to do. Read a few books on child psychology, locate a therapist who dealt with child abuse, spy on several sessions, search the internet for practical advice, check to make sure the advice was good…

"Well, you would need to talk to Arf to get the details, but we can tell you the basics," Shirou began.

* * *

><p>Fate watched, fascinated, as Miyuki and Kyouya sparred in the dojo. Back and forth, their wooden practice swords lunged forward to strike, parried, retreated. It was an inspiring sight, especially impressive as both combatants were using two swords. Rather than tangling their blades together like Fate would have expected, the two sword style they were using actually worked quite smoothly.<p>

All too soon, Kyouya slipped a blade past Miyuki's defenses, scoring a glancing hit on Miyuki's chest. While in a real fight it would not have been immediately incapacitating or fatal, it would have drawn blood, so the bout ended there. Fate stayed silent in the hope that they would resume, but it soon became evident that their morning practice was complete.

"Up early today, Fate?" Miyuki said as she tossed her brother a towel.

"Mm." Fate nodded. "You are both very good." She complimented them.

"Eh, I'm pretty good, but Kyouya's the really amazing one." Miyuki said modestly, then sent a teasing grin Kyouya's way. "Godly, even."

The two swordspersons exchanged looks that clearly meant something, but Fate's weak grasp on social interaction left it flying far above her head. Fate bit her lip, wanting to ask them questions, but not wanting to pry.

Of course, being about as transparent as glass, Fate's internal dilemma was obvious to both Kyouya and Miyuki.

"Are you interested in swordsmanship?" Kyouya asked with deliberate pleasantness.

Fate hesitated, but ultimately nodded. "When I'm bigger, I want to make a sword form for Bardiche," she confessed. "Scythe Form is useful, but it only has about as much range as Nanoha's staff because the blade curves inward." She traced the general shape of the scythe in the air and Miyuki and Kyouya nodded, understanding.

"Well, with an energy blade like yours, the outside edge must also be dangerous, right?" Miyuki guessed, but Fate shook her head.

"The blade is set at a ninety degree angle from the handle, so I can't swing and hit with the outer edge properly."

Kyouya nodded. "Yes, a ninety degree angle gives you no extra range at all… Can you change the angle?"

Fate shook her head. "We have a small supply of repair materials, but it was Linith who made Bardiche. She never got the chance to teach us…" Fate trailed off, suddenly melancholy.

"Well, I won't risk modifying Bardiche under our current circumstances." She concluded.

"What sort of sword were you thinking of?" Kyouya asked, distracting Fate from thoughts of the past.

"A giant sword with two edges." Fate tried to show the dimensions, but her arms were too short.

Miyuki sighed ruefully. "You know, that really puts in perspective how much magic changes combat. Without energy blades and flight spells, you wouldn't be able to use something that big effectively. I doubt I would be able to even lift a metal sword that size."

"Well, an energy blade wouldn't get stuck in things as much as a metal one," Kyouya mused, "so it wouldn't be completely useless on the ground. But I have to agree, using a sword in flight runs into a whole slew of things that ground-based fighters like us never have to consider."

"Sorry," Fate said dejectedly, eyes drawn down to her feet.

"Don't be," Miyuki said insistently, reaching down to grasp Fate's hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. "Never apologize for your gifts, Fate. Don't regret being the way you are, okay?"

"…Okay," Fate said quietly, smiling nervously.

"You know," Kyouya considered, "I bet Dad could give you some good advice if you ask. Dad's been around the block a few times, so to speak; I'd be surprised if he couldn't help."

Fate nodded hesitantly, unsure if she would be able to work up the nerve to ask.

"Anyway, if you want to learn our family's two sword style, just let me know." Kyouya said seriously. "I'd be happy to teach you."

Miyuki chuckled. "I'd offer to teach my style, but I don't think I'm quite skilled enough yet."

Seeing the quavering look on the girl's face, Kyouya chuckled and patted Fate on the head. "It's an open-ended offer, so don't feel like you need to answer now."

Fate flushed slightly, but nodded. "I… don't think I want to do more fighting right now."

"Fair enough," said Kyouya.

"But… if you don't mind me asking…?"

"No, go ahead," encouraged Miyuki.

"Why do you have different styles? You are brother and sister, right?" Fate asked.

"Well, I've been living here so long it certainly seems like it, but I'm actually Nanoha and Kyouya's cousin." Miyuki explained. "There was a family incident, and my mother had to leave to take care of something, so I came to live here. Her work is done now, but, well…" She laughed awkwardly. "I've lived most of my life here. Even if they're technically my aunt and uncle, Momoko and Shirou are 'Mom' and 'Dad' to me, while my biological mother is a more like a distant relative. I mean, I love her, but I think we're better apart like this than we would be together. We can't just pretend that she didn't basically abandon me for years…" Miyuki blanched. "Um, sorry, this is probably a sore topic for you right now."

Fate exhaled slowly. "No, it's alright. I don't want everyone to dance around it. And… I… think I understand. A little, anyway." She grasped Miyuki's hand and squeezed, a small, sad smile on her face. "But… someday I'll figure it out, I'm sure."

Miyuki squeezed back. "Then I'm sure you will."

"Shall we go help with breakfast?" Kyouya suggested.

"Mm."

* * *

><p>"So, Hydra Theory is that there are multiple universes, and the Dimensional Sea is the buffer zone between them, and Dimensional Theory is that there is just one universe, which is… crumpled? Or something like that, from a 4D viewpoint." Nanoha frowned. "But, that doesn't seem quite right."<p>

Yuuno nodded, pleased. "And you're quite correct. Neither theory successfully explains everything, and there are some things that both get wrong. The Dimensional Sea isn't a classical null state like Hydra Theory predicts – among other things it is possible to make meaningful measurements of it. But the Dimensional Theory is often inaccurate at predicting energy costs. And according to both theories my Temporal Force Field should be impossible – I actually use an entirely different set of equations for that."

"So…" Nanoha mused. "Why don't we just use the parts that work together, then?" She asked.

"Well, we do." Yuuno said, a little sheepish. "I'm actually going to teach you a really good approximation later on, but that's based off of empirical data rather than theoretical derivation, which is what we're looking at right now. I've skimped a little on the theory in the past…"

Nanoha snorted, and Yuuno had the decency to look ashamed.

"Okay, I've basically skipped over the theory entirely in order to teach you how to make things explode in the shortest amount of time possible." He admitted. "But in my defense, it worked."

Nanoha found it hard to refute that.

"Anyway, I want to give you a good theoretical background for this because if you screw up a transport spell you'll probably die in some horrifying manner, like splattering pieces of your corpse over the better part of a square kilometer."

Nanoha shuddered. "Theory! I love theory. Let's do more theory."

Yuuno smirked. "Glad to hear it. Anyway, since theories are based on assumptions from which derivation begins, the end results can sometimes be… uncorrelated with reality if the assumptions are wrong. And," he rubbed the back of his head, "well, there's a lot we don't know, so all of our current theories have some problem or another. There's something fundamental to the Dimensional Sea that we just don't understand yet, and it's throwing us off badly. Still, we know enough to make transport spells and barriers work, even if we have to kind of fudge it a bit."

Nanoha bit her lip in thought. "This isn't going to be easy to learn, is it?" She asked somewhat rhetorically.

"It'll take at least a month before you're ready to teleport," Yuuno informed her. "And I'm not even going to let you try barriers until after Christmas. And, of course, it'll be years before it will be safe to try out dimensional transfer spells. But it isn't like there's a rush."

* * *

><p>Hayate sighed exasperatedly at the tense form of the swordswoman. "Relax. Nobody is going to try to knife me in the back. It's just a shopping mall."<p>

Signum almost grimaced, and forced herself to offer her opinion without being asked, because this was a horrible idea. "There are an extremely large number of unknown persons within the complex. Upon entering, I will not be able to adequately protect you from all of them without revealing my abilities to the world at large."

Hayate smiled at Signum. "Why, yes, I suppose you are right." And she continued to roll her wheelchair forward.

Signum grimaced. Clearly she hadn't made her point properly. "It would be inadvisable to enter the complex."

"Hmm… Perhaps." Hayate acknowledged… without slowing down in the slightest.

And she smiled at Signum again.

Signum's eyes widened. Oh, she thought. Oh dear. Instinctively, she looked around for some solution, but nothing was forthcoming except the nearly unthinkable. As the doors to the mall neared, Hayate looked up at her and smiled at her again, and as Signum looked in her Mistress's eyes she knew there was only one thing she could do to stop them from entering.

Signum stopped walking and took a deep breath. Hayate stopped and turned to face her expectantly.

"Could we please…" The words ground out painfully. "Not go in there?"

Hayate grinned, and clasped her hands together in joy. "Yay!" Then she blanched, realizing that she had made her manipulations obvious. "Um, I mean, sure. No need to go in there right now."

Signum relaxed ever so slightly.

"We'll meet up with everyone else and make it a family outing," Hayate concluded happily.

The tension instantly returned.

* * *

><p>Nanoha stuck her head into the kitchen, and upon spotting her brother she traipsed in, followed by her three magical companions.<p>

"Kyouya, do you want to come to the park with us?" She asked.

Kyouya looked up from his computer. "Ah, sorry Nanoha. I need to finish gathering evidence for my research paper."

"You're going to the library?" Yuuno asked curiously, seeing that Kyouya had no books with him.

"No, I'm going to use the internet," Kyouya answered absently.

Nanoha, Fate, and Arf nodded, but Yuuno looked puzzled.

"I think I've heard of that, but I wasn't aware it was a database. I was under the impression it was a communication system."

"It's both," Nanoha said, confused, then understanding dawned. "Ah, you must not have had a reason to go online before you got hurt, and since I'm not allowed to go online without supervision anymore…"

Arf smirked. "Oh, this story I have to hear."

Kyouya said nothing, but twitched violently at the prospect. Before Arf could press for details, Nanoha continued as if the familiar had never spoken.

"Have you ever been online?" Nanoha asked Fate and Arf.

"We used the internet to find the apartment building we were using." Arf said, then raised a querying eyebrow. "And seriously, why can't you go online?"

"For the same reason I'm no longer allowed to watch Gundam," Nanoha informed her. "It Gives Me Ideas."

"What's with the emphasis?" Yuuno asked suspiciously.

"You know, I think you should introduce Yuuno to the internet," Kyouya suggested loudly, not even trying to pretend he wasn't changing the subject. "You can use Miyuki's laptop if you want, I bet Yuuno could get past the password protection."

Yuuno frowned. "I'm not sure I should-"

"We'll do it when we get back," Nanoha told Kyouya.

* * *

><p>"So Mid-Childa doesn't have an internet?" Nanoha asked curiously.<p>

Yuuno shook his head. "We have databases accessible to the general public, but nothing remotely like what you seem to be talking about."

"No forums? No games? No Youtube equivalent? No Wikis?"

"Nothing like it." Yuuno confirmed. "This is just speculation, but from what you told me, the internet started out as a communication system, then just kind of exploded, right?"

"Yeah, at some university I think. I don't know much more than that though."

"On Mid-Childa we just use magic to communicate, so we never had any reason to develop email, and so I guess we just use our servers for data storage. We never developed websites."

"You know," Arf said uncertainly, cutting in on the conversation with a completely different topic. "I don't really have anything to compare with, but… sometimes I get the feeling that your family is a little abnormal, Nanoha."

"Really?" Nanoha asked curiously. "How so?"

"Your sister uses a 68 character alphanumeric passcode." Yuuno pointed out as he tapped away at the keyboard.

"Electronic security is very important," Nanoha countered.

"Your mother carries a Taser, your sister carries some sort of razor wire, your brother carries at least three knives, and your father carries so many weapons I'm surprised he doesn't clink when he walks." Arf said dryly.

"And I carry Raising Heart!" Nanoha added on agreeably. Arf gave her a disbelieving look.

Fate blinked. "How do you know that?" She asked Arf.

"Never mind that," Arf said deflectively. "Anyway, Nanoha, I haven't seen other people who are quite so… security-conscious."

"Safety is important," Nanoha said blithely.

"So I just… type a question in?" Yuuno asked, bringing them back to the original topic.

"Well you can, but it works better if you just type in some keywords." Nanoha turned to Arf and shrugged. "Nobody wants me to worry about it, so I don't ask."

"Okay, now what?" Yuuno asked. "No, wait, I think I get it, blue underlined text opens a new 'page'… Why are there so many pages for 'magic'?" Yuuno's eyebrows rocketed up towards his hairline at the ludicrous number of 'hits'. "I mean, 'About 979,000,000'? This planet doesn't even know magic exists!" Though he had to admit, that was a truly impressive search engine that could find all of that in less than a second.

"Even though most people can't use magic, pretty much everybody wishes they could." Nanoha said. "It's all fictional… I think?" Nanoha looked thoughtful, but eventually decided it didn't matter. "It isn't like we have a good way to check out that kind of thing." She explained.

"And you don't have great luck meeting new mages," Yuuno said dryly, then, realizing how Fate might take that, turned to her. "Um, no offense."

Fate fortunately took it fairly well, and just smiled wanly. "None taken."

"Well, so far everyone has had a good reason… for a certain value of good… except Yuuno." Nanoha said 'idly'.

Yuuno, having learned to pick up on this sort of thing, looked at the Japanese girl warily. "I didn't attack you."

Nanoha sniffed. "No, you just woke me up in the middle of the night and tricked me into running towards a monster attack-"

"It wasn't a trick, it was a cry for help."

"Because of you, I was targeted by a tentacle monster!" Nanoha accused him with a jabbing pointer finger.

"It was a bush, those were branches!"

"Bushes don't reform when they go splat. It was definitely some kind of slime: tentacle monster. It must have been made out of mud or something."

"I saw it activate! It was a shrubbery!"

"Tentacle monster."

**"Plant."**

"Tentacle monster."

"Plant- No, we are not doing that." Yuuno glared at Nanoha. "You utterly destroyed it. It doesn't matter."

"Without Raising Heart, my innocence might have been lost!" Nanoha paused, uncertain. "Or something. It's related to sex, I think, but I'm not sure how."

"Ask your mother." Arf said instantly. When Fate looked at her curiously, Arf spoke before the question could leave her creator's lips. "It's nothing important, I'll make sure to tell you if you ever need to know. And Yuuno-"

"Has already had the talk." Yuuno assured her. Arf sagged in relief, then doubled back – Yuuno was only nine, why did he have to be given the talk?

"What talk?" Fate asked, confused. "I don't understand."

"It's a biology lesson about human reproduction." Yuuno said blithely as he tapped away at the computer.

Arf would have buried her face in her hands, were she not using them to cover Fate's ears since the word 'biology'.

"Really, I'm not sure why it's such a big deal." Yuuno frowned. "Sex, I mean. It just sounds somewhat disgusting and more than a little painful. Uncle says I'll understand when I hit puberty, but-"

"Enough!" Arf all but shouted. "We're done with this subject."

Nanoha and Yuuno exchanged looks, but complied. Arf removed her hands. Fate, bless her sweet, innocent little heart, just continued to look adorably confused. If Arf had anything to say about it, she would remain confused on that particular subject for the foreseeable future.

"What were we talking about again?" Nanoha asked.

"Me, Master." Raising Heart prompted.

"Right, thanks Raising Heart!" Nanoha chirped, then sniffed haughtily at Yuuno. "Anyway, since you gave me Raising Heart and taught me how to fly, I forgive you."

"You're so kind."

"Wait," Arf said slowly. "You just… don't ask?"

Nanoha looked at her blankly. "What?"

"About your family?" Arf prompted. "You just… don't ask?"

"What's there to ask about?" Nanoha cocked her head to one side in a way that was just slightly more innocent than was readily believable. "We're a completely normal family that runs a café."

"Really." Arf said flatly.

"Yes, Dad makes sure to remind us of that whenever guests come over." Nanoha said solemnly. "He's very emphatic about it, just like he is when he says to never talk about his side of the family in public."

"Any particular reason for that?" Arf said coaxingly, trying to get as much information as she could.

"I don't ask." Nanoha reminded her. "It's just easier for everyone if they don't have to come up with lies for me."

"…Are you really okay with that?" Yuuno asked dubiously, exchanging uncertain looks with Fate and Arf. "I mean, don't you ever want to know?"

"Of course I do, but I trust them." Nanoha smiled serenely. "I decided a long time ago that I would wait for them to be ready to tell me. I think they want me to be a little older first. I get the feeling it isn't a very nice story, the kind people aren't supposed to tell children because it's bloody and scary and doesn't necessarily have a happy ending. They're just trying to look out for me, even if it doesn't work very well since I'm not as childish as they think I am."

Arf nodded slowly, not really sure how to respond to that, as saying something like that was either very mature or very naïve; it wasn't exactly a baseless trust, but it was close to it as far as Arf was concerned. And in that moment, Arf realized for the first time that, in her own way, Nanoha was really very strange and not normal at all. Which she really should have figured out sooner because, really, Nanoha only acted her age when she was playing around with her friends and family and sometimes not even then… Arf thought back over Nanoha's actions before the dislocation and the more she thought about it the stranger it seemed. It wasn't that she wasn't childlike, not quite, but there was an underlying, unnatural sort of maturity that seemed to poke through from time to time.

Which, incidentally, was creepy as-

"What are you all doing in my room?" Miyuki asked, and her eyes widened in horror as she saw the opened laptop. "Oh no, please tell me you didn't let Nanoha use Google!"

Yuuno blinked incredulously. "Okay, now I really want to know what the story behind this is."

* * *

><p>It was well past nightfall, and the Yagami apartment was silent, the lights turned off. Hayate slept on a futon, with Vita on one side and Zafira in wolf form on the other. As their little mistress dreamt the dreams of the innocent, her Wolkenritter dozed, senses sharp. Vita's fingers tightly wrapped around the hammer charm on her necklace, ready to rip it off her neck and activate Graf Eisen at a moment's notice.<p>

In the kitchen area of the apartment, Signum and Shamal hunched over a small cluster of softly glowing triangular windows. Shamal's device glimmered, rings and gems shining in the celadon light of her Mirror of Prospection. Through several portals, the inside of the Takamachi household could be seen, while through another three glowing figures, one yellow, one green, one pink, flew up through a bank of clouds.

"They aren't casting anything other than their flight spells right now." Shamal murmured over their mental link. "Or running a search pattern."

"They might be practicing their flight skills, but there's no reason for them to do so outside of a barrier." Signum muttered back. "The familiar isn't with them either," she observed, looking into another triangular mirror.

"Do you want to go out and confront them?" Shamal queried.

Signum seriously considered it, but eventually grudgingly shook her head. "They are far enough away that if I went out to meet them I would be hard pressed to return fast enough to be of aid if this location is attacked. As long as they stay on the other side of the city I will leave them be, and remain here in defense of Hayate."

But that said, it did bother her. Just what were they doing?

* * *

><p>"So what are we doing?" Fate asked curiously, having to raise her voice to be heard over the wind whipping past them.<p>

"Well, there's good cloud cover tonight, so it seemed like a good opportunity to go flying." Yuuno said as they broke through the clouds, slightly damp from accumulated moisture.

"Where are we flying to?" Fate queried. She wasn't aware they had something they needed to go do at the moment.

"Nowhere!" Nanoha cheerfully informed her. "We're flying just for fun. Flying inside a barrier isn't bad, but out here we have the whole sky and we can go as far and as fast as we want."

Fate considered this pensively. "I've never done anything like this before," she admitted quietly. "I'm not sure what to do."

Nanoha, with relentless enthusiasm, brushed her worries aside. "If you want, just follow me for now! Try to just enjoy the experience of flying!"

And with that, Nanoha streaked off into the night, Yuuno soon following. Fate, caught off guard, scrambled to follow the wings of pink light.

At first, Fate was very nearly panicked. She was used to much more structure in her… well, her everything. 'Fly and have fun' might as well be no help at all. So she latched onto Nanoha's trail like a lifeline and followed.

It didn't take too long to catch up – her barrier jacket was modified to boost speed while Nanoha's was modified for additional defense – and once she pulled even with Nanoha the brunette turned and winked at her.

And vanished.

Fate, having learned from her previous fight against Nanoha (and wasn't it a shock to think that that had been months ago now) looked down, then up, and spotted Nanoha blurring upwards with a grin on her face that signified an insane stunt was incoming.

With an absurdly sharp U-turn, Nanoha rocketed down towards the clouds, vanishing into them with an odd sound that signified that while Nanoha had not yet punched the sound barrier's lights out, she was at least seriously considering kicking it between the legs. Fate stopped and gaped for a moment, before mentally shrugging and attempting to imitate the feat.

It wasn't a perfect imitation (for one thing, Fate wasn't nearly enough of a daredevil to pull those kinds of turns; high speed is one thing, insane G-forces is another) but as she dropped into the clouds at speeds above her normal comfort zone something suddenly clicked.

And Fate realized that **she was flying**.

Technically she had always known this, but it had always been something casual and unimportant. She just did it, she didn't really think about it. But now, for the first time, she really understood what that meant. Before now, flying was just a way of moving quickly in any direction she wanted. But now, as the air whipped past her and she soared at great speeds through banks of clouds, she understood.

She had wings. And the whole sky to fly in.

This was what it meant to be free.

An hour later, Fate giggled joyfully, if almost inaudibly, as she pulled out of a kilometer long dive to alight daintily upon the doorstep of Nanoha's home, her windswept friends close behind her.

Arf opened the door to let them in, a pleased smile on her face. "It seems you've had a good time, haven't you?"

"Mm," Fate's eyes sparkled. "It was lots of fun. You should join us next time."

"Ah, maybe I will." Arf smiled. She'd finally gotten the chance to have a nice long talk with Shirou and gotten some questions answered to her satisfaction, so she was happy with how the night had gone on her end. "But it's late, and there's school tomorrow, so let's get ready for bed."

Fate nodded happily. The wind was in the sky, the stars were in the heavens, her friends were by her side, and for the first time in a long time, she felt that all was right with the world.

* * *

><p>"Sure, go ahead," Hayate said absently as she leafed through the Book of Darkness. Fireball spell, irrigation spell, wide area bombardment spell, paint-stripping spell, petrification spell, healing spell, flight spell… Hearing the silence of the room, she looked up to find her family staring at her. "Is something the matter?" She asked curiously.<p>

"Are you sure?" Asked Shamal.

Hayate blinked. "Um… About what?"

Shamal coughed, and wrung her hands nervously. "About letting me scan you."

Hayate closed the Book with a confused frown and looked at her family. "Of course I'm sure. Why wouldn't I be? Really, it's like you think I don't trust you."

Hayate didn't quite manage to comprehend the significance of the brief pause following her words. Precocious she might have been, but Hayate was still only nine, so the Wolkenritter with their comparatively vast experience in social matters were able to more or less conceal the shame they felt at Hayate's words. Shamal fumbled her deflective response slightly, however.

"No, we know you trust us, we just don't want to take it for granted." Shamal spoke truthfully, though somewhat misleadingly. But Hayate gave her a piercing look, picking up on the fact that the statement might imply that her family had some worries that she might not trust them at some point in the future.

"Well, I trust you, so cast any spells on me that you want to," Hayate said bluntly with a smile, figuring that you couldn't go wrong with bludgeoning people with niceness until they got the idea.

Shamal nodded, blaming herself for her foolishness. Were it not for the ingrained reticence that the Wolkenritter had around their masters, she would have asked months ago, but instead she had tried to diagnose Hayate without doing something as potentially offensive as casting a spell on their master. They had learned long ago that that could be taken… badly… by more volatile masters. Shamal should have known better – Hayate wasn't like that at all – but after so much time spent acting one way it was easy to just keep doing so out of inertia. But Shamal had been unsuccessful for two months now, and that conditioning had yielded and she had asked at last.

Still, she didn't let it show, and simply began her examination.

And almost immediately realized something was wrong. Or rather, something was right.

"Hayate, I don't understand, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with your legs."

Utterly surprised, everyone stared at Shamal in total incomprehension. Hayate turned her attention to her legs, and tried to move them. They didn't even twitch.

Hayate shrugged helplessly. "They don't work. I'm not sure what else to say."

"But that's just it," Shamal said, distressed. "That's the only problem. There is absolutely no physiological reason for you to be unable to move your legs. All of the nerves, muscles and tendons, all of the bones and tissues… There is absolutely nothing wrong with them! Well, they're not as strong as they should be, since you aren't using them, but that's it! And it isn't psychological either; there isn't so much as an involuntary twitch! This shouldn't be possible, Hayate."

"Except, evidently, that it is." Zafira pointed out.

Shamal's glare could have scoured barnacles off a ship's hull.

"I just don't understand," Shamal repeated to herself as she tried spell after spell. "There has to be a reason. Why can't I find it?"

The Book of Darkness pulsed, another page filling.

If Shamal was human, she might have missed it. If Shamal was human, she could have lied to herself and convinced herself that she was mistaken. If Shamal was human, she would not have to face the truth.

But she wasn't.

Pale, trembling, Shamal sunk to her knees, the horror she felt echoed back at her as the rest of the Wolkenritter comprehended what she had seen.

"Hayate…" Shamal said softly. "Your paralysis… it spread a little just now."

Hayate clutched the Book tightly and sat in silence for a few moments. "And just now… a page filled."

Shamal nodded, tears prickling at her eyes. A crunch from behind her signaled Vita smashing something in frustration.

"How far will it spread?" Hayate's voice was barely a whisper.

Saline droplets rolled down Shamal's cheeks, and she had never wished to lie to Hayate as much as she did right now.

"Too far." The words were tortuously dragged out of her throat. "If something is not done, the Curse of the Book of Darkness will take your life."

…

…

…

[137/666]

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**When I first planned this chapter out in my head, it had a larger number of shorter scenes. Somehow it didn't turn out that way. I don't think I've done a very good job with the timescale, as looking over it this feels like it could all be happening over the course of maybe a week or two rather than two months. But I suppose that's to be expected, as this is my first time trying to accomplish this particular sort of writing.**

**I really would have liked more Wolkenritter scenes, but I just had a hard time coming up with them for some reason. I suppose it isn't really a problem; what I'm doing doesn't require a great deal of character development to occur in this chapter, so I've just perhaps nudged them a little rather than make any significant changes. Hopefully at this point the readers have a pretty good idea of their mentality.**

**We are now getting into the meat of A's. Much like canon, we have the Wolkenritter (who want to save Hayate), Hayate (who doesn't want anyone to die because of her), and Nanoha and her friends (who want to save everybody). Just like canon, right? Well, from a certain point of view, perhaps, but I think everyone can see that this is quite a different kettle of fish. For one thing, we've basically traded out the TSAB for Nanoha's family, whose role is entirely different. And Hayate's relationship with the Wolkenritter is more of a 'princess and knights' sort of relationship than the near-worship that the Wolkenritter seem to have for her in canon. And everybody knows each other, which cuts out basically all of the run-around from A's.**

**And as for Reinforce… well, you'll have to wait and see.**

**What can be easily missed when watching the Nanoha anime is that Nanoha's character is arguably rather static after the first season. There's some off-screen maturity that is obtained between A's and StrikerS, but that's about it really. Fate, on the other hand, confronts serious personal issues in every season, giving her a much more interesting character arc (I think that's the right term). Though I must say, Nanoha's sheer awesome makes up for a lot, and she always has an important role to play, so I'm not putting her down in any way.**

**I'm not sure at what point I decided I would be doing things differently, but I have plans for Nanoha, I do. One of the important differences between Graceful Degradation and canon is Nanoha's family, who are now minor characters rather than background characters. While Triangle Heart 3 is not completely absorbed into my backstory for a variety of reasons (most importantly Shirou surviving the bomb) I am including major elements of it, and for that reason Nanoha's family is a little… odd.**

**But not as odd as Nanoha herself.**


	15. Chapter 15: Unjust Destiny

**About a month ago, I managed to write up about one and five-sixths chapters in rough draft. So, you may be wondering 'why was there no August update'?**

**Computer troubles. Then university started up again.**

**Anyway, it's here now, so while I'm not even going to pretend to promise consistent updates, this story is continuing. And hey, I know some stories that will only update once a year, if that! But enough about that.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 15: Unjust Destiny<p>

* * *

><p><strong>September 3, 0065<strong>

* * *

><p>There comes a time in a person's life when they must decide what sort of person they want to be. There is no hard and fast rule for what this choice is or when it will occur (if there was, one would hope the world would be a much nicer place) and as the world is far from simple a person might be forced to make any number of such decisions over the course of their lives, so saying 'a time' is perhaps a little misleading. Still, there are… generalities. Assumptions. Such as, for example, the idea that such things are for adults, or at the very least teenagers, to worry about.<p>

Thus, Hayate felt she was quite justified in being ever-so-slightly miffed about the current situation. Not only was she the current focus of a life-or-death scenario, it was her life that was on the line. Worse, she has to be the one to make the decision. She's nine, she's not qualified to make big choices like this, why on Earth is she in charge anyway?!

Hayate took a deep breath to calm herself before she became hysterical.

By all rights, Hayate ought to have the opportunity to freak out a little, maybe have some time to herself to cry about the unfairness of the world. But she isn't alone, and for the first time since her family emerged from the Book this isn't a good thing. Because as long as the Wolkenritter are with her, she can't break down and cry, because she is absolutely certain that if she does, Signum will pressure her into letting her family save her life. Which incidentally, is the worst part of this whole situation:

She's on the wrong side of this argument.

But sometimes, Hayate knows, has known since her parents died, has had it drilled into her every day of loneliness, every doctor's appointment, every moment of crushing responsibility as the master of the Wolkenritter, the world isn't fair. And so, no matter how much she would prefer it to be otherwise, no matter how much her family begged, no matter how desperately she wanted to live, she was going to say:

"No."

"Hayate," Signum, Signum of all people, pleaded. "You will die if we don't do something."

"**I want to live." **Hayate said forcefully, silencing the Wolkenritter. "But," she said softly, affixing each of them in turn with her gaze, "if I allowed you to do this, to hunt down and absorb the meager linker cores that exist on this world, how many people would you hurt?"

"Hayate-"

"**How many?"**

The knights flinched. Vita, voice trembling, eyes teary, answered through her sobs. "We could probably keep it under a thousand."

"And I am not willing to go through with that." Hayate's fingers tapped out a staccato beat on the Book of Darkness. "I know that there isn't always a way to avoid hurting people, and I accept that. But there have to be limits. And I have mine. If I let you go through with this, I would never be able to look myself in the mirror again."

"But you would be alive," Zafira tried to persuade her insistently. "And no one would be permanently harmed. Please, let us do this!"

Shamal grasped Hayate's hands. "Hayate, if we don't do this, you will be horrifically sick by November. You will be dead before the year is out. Please, let us save you!"

Hayate smiled sadly. "Thank you for caring so much. It means a lot to me. But I will not. The life I want to lead is one without regrets, however short it might be. Perhaps, in the end, I'm just a silly idealistic little girl with too many principles and not enough common sense to fill a thimble, but that's how I feel. I don't expect you to like my decision. Honestly, I don't much like having to make it. If you find another way, a better way, then I would love nothing more than to live a long, happy life. But if there is no other way to save my life, then I will settle for short and happy over long and haunted by guilt."

"Hayate-"

"Thank you." Hayate reached out and wiped away Vita's tears, fighting back her own. "Really. I had never hoped to have even a single person care about me half as much as the four of you do. Thank you for everything you've given me these past few months. It means the world to me, and all the stars besides."

"If it weren't for us and the Book, you wouldn't be in this situation!" Shamal cried out.

"**You are worth it."** Hayate said with unshakable conviction, and placed a gentle kiss on Shamal's forehead. "Power? Authority? My health? I couldn't care less. The Book of Darkness granted me the only wish I would ever have made on it the instant it gave me you. If my life is the price I have to pay for these happy times with you, then I am getting the better end of the deal. I'm just sorry these happy days couldn't last forever."

Looking away from them, Hayate pulled out her phone and started to type up a text. "We should meet up with the Takamachi's and tell them what's happening."

Normally Signum would be leery of the idea, but under the circumstances there just wasn't any point in arguing. Their situation could hardly be made worse.

* * *

><p>Molecules sparked and shimmered in her mind's eye as she slowly, crawlingly, haltingly shaped and applied her power to the disk in her hands. Golden light, emitted, reflected, refracted, illuminated the room as Fate strained to form a microscopic tendril of power which she ever-so-carefully shipped forward to impact the disc, leaving an imperceptibly small ding on the CD-ROM. Relaxing slightly, she scrutinized her work as best she could. It seemed to be right, but her visualization was still decidedly subpar. There was only one way to be sure.<p>

Fate walked over to Miyuki's laptop, carefully aligned the disk with the entry portal, and gently pushed in the CD until the internal mechanisms grasped it and moved it the rest of the way inside. As the computer spun the disk, Fate patiently waited, twitching at unexpected background noises from the rest of the house. With a final whir, the computer finished its work and acknowledged the existence of the CD. Double-clicking the helpful pop-up window to view the files on the CD, Fate smiled upon seeing a txt file. Another pair of clicks successfully opened the document, but sadly the simple sentence she had attempted to engrave into the disk turned to gibberish partway through, indicating that she had made a significant error at that point which had thrown off the rest of her efforts. With a sigh, she closed the window and ejected the disk in order to begin the painstaking process of tracking down her mistake and fixing it. It would probably be both easier and faster to wipe the disk and start anew, but if she did that she would not learn from her error.

So intent on scanning was she that the arrival of Nanoha's mother completely escaped Fate's notice until the woman spoke.

"You didn't go to spar with Nanoha and Yuuno today?" Momoko asked curiously.

Upon hearing Momoko speak, Fate jerked backward in shock, losing her grasp on the CD. Fate spun around clasping at her palpitating heart, and the disk clattered to the ground, momentarily forgotten.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Momoko reached down and picked up the disk, brushed off both sides and returned it. "Did you not feel like fighting today?"

Fate set the disk down on the table, and looked down, scuffing her feet. "Shamal and I were talking during out last session, and I realized that the three of us are always together. Which… isn't necessarily a bad thing, but…" She shrugged helplessly.

Momoko nodded in understanding. "Sometimes you want a little time to yourself, right?"

"I guess," Fate frowned. "But I'm really jumpy for some reason and… I don't know." She shook her head. "I wish I had gone with them."

"They didn't leave all that long ago," Momoko pointed out, "and they won't be back for a few hours. You could go join them."

Fate was tempted, so very tempted, but she ultimately decided against it. "I wouldn't be doing much of anything if I went." She didn't want to be clingy, and it didn't get much clingier than that. She could last a couple more hours, right? Right.

"What do you mean?"

Fate blinked, and had to take a moment to get her thoughts back on track. "Ah, I suppose it hasn't really come up… I don't join in the spars very often. It's usually just Nanoha and Yuuno, though Arf sometimes joins in. I do practice my spells on my own, and I can practice with Arf, but since she's my familiar we can't spar effectively – we can predict each other to well and we always end up pulling our punches. And I can't break through Yuuno's defences…"

That was something of an understatement, Fate admitted to herself. Yuuno had once taken Thunder Smasher, then Thunder Rage, then sat there and let her go through the whole ceremony for Thunder Fall and he hadn't even been strained – though he at least put a little bit of effort into blocking Photon Lancer Phalanx Shift when she had merged twenty or thirty of the plasma balls together and thrown the resulting Spark End at him like a javelin. It was utterly ridiculous. Maybe he was the humanoid offspring of a castle and a tank?

"…And I'm always too worried to hit Nanoha." Fate concluded.

"Worried?"

"My attacks are all electrified," Fate explained. "I'm always afraid that I'll cause another heart failure, and when I hesitate Nanoha takes the opportunity to obliterate me. She's pragmatic like that. The odds of something going wrong are really low, but I can't bring myself to risk it." Fate averted her eyes, fiddling with the CD distractedly.

Momoko observed this thoughtfully.

"We've never thanked you, have we?" She asked somewhat rhetorically.

And she slowly, gently pulled Fate into a hug.

Fate stiffened ever so slightly, but to Momoko's relief she almost immediately relaxed. She didn't hug back, but she didn't push Momoko away either.

"Thank you," Momoko murmured in Fate's ear. "Thank you for protecting this world. Thank you for saving Nanoha's life."

Fate flushed red. "I- I didn't do anything special. Arf and Yuuno saved me, Nanoha fought Mother, Yuuno planned everything out, and Arf was the one who saved Nanoha. I only helped a little at the end."

"You don't have to do something special to make a difference, Fate." Momoko released Fate and stepped back, smiling. "And I have no doubt that if I asked any of the others about those events they would think your contributions important. I'll leave you to your practice, but let me know if you want some company."

"Okay," Fate smiled back shyly.

Momoko left the room and wound her way out to the dojo where Arf awaited her.

"Thanks for that," the familiar said. "She's feeling a lot better now."

"It was no problem. Fate's a sweetheart, really." Momoko paused. "Would you be offended if I asked you why you never ripped that monster's throat out?"

Arf barked out a sharp laugh. "Fate would never have forgiven me for that, and worse, she would have blamed herself for that thing's death. She loves her 'mother', even if it was never reciprocated. Sometimes… sometimes you can't save someone until they realize that they need to be saved."

Momoko nodded, knowing what she meant. For several long moments, the Takamachi matriarch stared searchingly at the wolf.

"…Arf, why did you ask me to help Fate just now?"

"Because she needed to talk to someone," Arf said with a 'duh' look on her face, but Momoko was having none of it, and stared down the familiar until she caved.

"Tch. You and that husband of yours really are just way too perceptive." Arf grumbled. "Before I came here I would just be able to deflect the question without answering."

"Before you came here you spent all of your time with a nine-year-old with the social skills of a mushroom, if that." Momoko said bluntly, then her gaze softened. "Arf, talk to me. This is far from the first time you've done things like this. What is going on?"

Arf sighed, giving in. "I'm… safe. Expected. I could easily have comforted her, yes, but… that wouldn't really do anything for Fate. But… if it's, say, Nanoha who helps her instead… then Fate starts to trust Nanoha a little more. Or maybe if it's your husband who gives her good advice, Fate will go to him for more advice in the future. And if Miyuki listens to her problems with a kind ear, perhaps Fate will talk to her more often. And eventually, maybe Fate will just want me, rather than actually need me."

Momoko's eyes widened. "Arf, you…"

Arf turned away, face flushing. "I love her. And I would do anything for her. But I know that she needs more than just me in her life. Someday, I'm just going to be one of many people in her life, and probably not the most important one. But if all of those people look out for her and try to make her happy, I'll be satisfied."

"I'm honored that you place so much trust in our family," Momoko said honestly. "But don't distance yourself too much. Fate loves you too after all."

Arf smiled wryly. "I know. I do have an empathic link with her after all. And I do spend time with her. But the bonds she is making now will last a lifetime, and Fate deserves that more than anyone. I won't be here forever."

Momoko blinked. "You won't? I guess I kind of assumed you would live for as long as Fate."

Arf shrugged. "Well, it isn't like I'm dying. I've probably got at least another twenty or thirty years in me, probably more. Fate did a really good job for a little kid when she made me, but I'm not designed as well as a Belkan Guardian Beast. Shamal was quite offended at my 'shoddy construction' as she put it, but from where I'm standing I'm going to live decades beyond the natural lifespan of a wolf. Still, Fate's going to outlive me by a significant margin. Nanoha and Yuuno will look after her though, so I'm not too worried."

Momoko raised an eyebrow. "They're pretty young. I can't imagine they'll stop being friends, but there's a good chance they'll eventually go their separate ways."

But Arf just chuckled. "Trust me on this one. Wherever their lives may take them, they'll be there together. Some things do last a lifetime."

* * *

><p>"Flash Impact," intoned Raising Heart, the staff accelerating towards Yuuno's back. A shield appeared in its path, easily absorbing the shockwave of mana Raising Heart released on contact.<p>

But the shield's work was not yet done. Green chains shot out from it, ensnaring Nanoha in their grasp.

Yuuno smirked. "Looks like my win this time."

Nanoha smirked back. "Raising Heart!"

"Reactor Purge."

Pink light exploded outwards, shattering the chains. Nanoha blurred forward to melee range, striking out with Raising Heart.

Yuuno lazily reached out, grabbed Nanoha's outstretched arm, and sunk down in order to facilitate a mid-air throw. As Nanoha uncontrollably spun head-over-heels through the air above him, Yuuno slapped a good half a dozen binds on her. Then he blinked.

"Did you seriously detonate your barrier jacket and try to club me with Raising Heart?"

Nanoha had the decency to look embarrassed. "I keep forgetting you can do hand-to-hand combat." Then she brightened. "But at least I know Reactor Purge works now."

"Nanoha, why would you ever want to destroy your barrier jacket in combat?"

"It's like reactive armor," Nanoha explained. "I figure that if I'm hit with an attack that is going to destroy my barrier jacket anyway, I might as well detonate it in order to blunt the attack as much as possible. I can always make a new barrier jacket, but actual wounds are another story entirely."

"Then why didn't you reform your barrier jacket?"

"Well, I can't do it quickly," Nanoha admitted. "And I figured I could end the fight quickly if I attacked."

Yuuno sighed and released his sparring partner. "Nanoha, you have absolutely no training whatsoever in melee combat. Either stick to shooting range or get someone to teach you how to fight with a staff. I just know some basic Strike Arts and I'm still easily able to take you out when you get too close. I dread to think of what someone on the level of the Wolkenritter would do to you."

"You're probably right," Nanoha said grudgingly. "And in a real battle I wouldn't take a chance like that unless I had to. But right now I don't want to take time away from my other training to learn staff fighting. Maybe if you let me run more simulations again…" She looked at Yuuno hopefully, but he shot that idea down.

"Not a chance. There isn't a desperate need to teach you the basics anymore, and while it did a lot of good, training that strenuous can easily hurt more than help if you do it over a long period of time." As Nanoha still looked mutinous, he tried another tack. "Look, if Precia comes back again, would you rather be well-rested and at the top of your game, or sleep-deprived, low on mana, and under significant mental strain?"

Nanoha huffed. "Fine. But you have to help me with compressing Starlight Breaker then."

"Sure."

Yuuno flew some distance away and readied himself.

Pink motes of light swirled in towards Nanoha, forming a sphere at a much faster rate than two months ago. As it grew, two ribbons wrapped themselves around the sphere. The sphere's growth slowed, though the amount of starlight streaming towards it kept up the same pace.

"Density increasing." Raising Heart announced. "105%... 110%... … 115%"

At 15% compression, the sphere was clearly becoming unstable. Quickly, Nanoha struck it, her chosen trigger launching the energy towards Yuuno in a coherent beam.

"Aegis!"

The incredibly dense pattern of lines and script folded out in front of Yuuno and expanded. Aegis was really the only spell in Yuuno's repertoire that he considered to be specifically his. He had, when he was younger, thought it would be 'cool' to create the strongest defensive spell in existence. Whether or not he had succeeded was up for debate, but it was so stupidly over engineered it might as well be useless in most situations.

Not only could Aegis take more than a magnitude greater power than Round Shield without overloading, not only did it create an actual physical barrier and a counterforce, he had 'brilliantly' made it to be massively customizable. While it sounded good in theory to be able to change the size, shape, shield strength at every point, counterforce direction at every point, etc., etc., it was really just a whole lot of unwanted complications.

A normal Mid-Childan circle had perhaps two layers of script. Aegis had seven. That was not a good thing.

In his (admittedly abbreviated) career as an archeologist, Yuuno had never needed or wanted to use Aegis. Why use all of that mana and give himself a pounding headache when he could just use Round Shield or Sphere protection to block basically anything?

He'd used Aegis in the Garden of Time because he wanted to be absolutely certain that nothing short of Precia herself would have any hope of breaking through that doorway.

It was telling that Aegis was now his default response to Starlight Breaker.

When the light faded, Yuuno was breathing heavily and had produced a fair amount of perspiration, but he was otherwise unharmed.

"I think you're trying to do too many things at once," he said once he had caught his breath. "The mana compression is too volatile and dangerous for you to give it less than your full attention. Well, knowing you you'll manage to do that eventually, but this is still relatively new for you. More so than everything else, at any rate."

"Maybe," Nanoha said. "But if I charged it up first… Well, I'm kind of afraid of what would happen if I lost control of a full sized Starlight Breaker."

"You can practice with a smaller one and work your way up." Yuuno pointed out. "But I really think you need to do two steps: mana collection and mana compression."

"Alright, I can try that."

Once more, pink motes began to gather.

* * *

><p>"We're home!"<p>

"Welcome home!"

"How was your practice?" Fate asked.

"Great!" chirped Nanoha. "I've made good progress on Starlight Breaker."

Yuuno, who looked much less chipper and rather more battered, smiled wanly.

"I still think it has a ways to go," Nanoha admitted. "Well, putting it that way makes it sound like there's a definite limit to how far I can improve it. I'll probably be improving the speed and compression for years to come."

Yuuno twitched, suddenly gaining a thousand yard stare.

"Oh, by the way, I got a text from Hayate. She wants to meet up with us sometime soon to talk about something."

"Us as in the whole family?" Momoko asked, and got a nod in return. "Well, I'll give her a call and set things up."

* * *

><p>"Okay, tomorrow at five then. Thank you." Hayate ended the call.<p>

"Giant squid is no good."

"Blue whale is hardly worth anything."

"Giant redwood is worthless, but I guess that was kind of a long shot anyway."

"I think I can get like one word per elephant. Maybe."

Hayate sighed and spoke into the mental network. "Listen, I'm more or less sure that there isn't anything magical on this whole planet."

"We have to try," argued Vita.

Hayate sighed, and looked around their apartment. It was a rather cramped fit for five people, she supposed, especially with her in a wheelchair, though it had never bothered any of them during their time here. But now, with her family out scouring the globe for any source of linker cores that Hayate might not object to, the apartment felt terribly empty. Hayate's house was more or less fixed, and it wouldn't be too much longer before they would move back there, and Hayate thought it was a pity that her fond memories of her time here were being tainted by sadness and loneliness.

As much as she wanted to call her knights back to her, she refused to hurt them like that. They were trying their hardest to help her, and she would not insult their efforts and desires by commanding them to do what she wanted.

"I've scheduled the meeting for five pm tomorrow at the Takamachi household." Hayate sent.

"We'll be there," Signum promised.

"Thank you."

With that Hayate shut down her access to the network. Hearing them fail to find anything was rather depressing and the last thing she needed at the moment was more bad news. Sitting alone in her wheelchair, Hayate felt utterly spent, too emotionally exhausted to even cry.

A nudge to her side drew her attention to the Book of Darkness, hovering next to her. With a sigh, Hayate reached out and hugged it to her.

"It's fine. I don't blame you, not really. This isn't anybody's fault. In your own way, you're just trying to do the best you can. If I was strong enough, then I could fill all of your pages and everything would work out for the best. It isn't your fault my body isn't up to the challenge."

Hayate's eyes wandered aimlessly, looking for something to distract herself with. Eventually, they ground to a halt at the sight of a camera that had seen good use over the past few months. Hayate smiled and turned to the Book.

"We're going to need some arts and crafts supplies."

* * *

><p>"I think I need to spend more time working on binds or find more ways to limit my opponent's movements," Nanoha concluded between bites. "It doesn't matter how strong my attacks are if I can't hit anything. What did you work on, Fate?"<p>

"I can manually create a text file on a CD, but it takes a long time. I'm not getting very good visualization from my scanning spell either."

"I can give you some pointers on the scanner, but speed only comes with practice." Yuuno said. "It'll come eventually if you keep working at it."

Fate nodded as she passed the rice to Arf.

Nanoha was strong and getting stronger. Fate suspected that she was much weaker than Nanoha at this point. But that was alright. She could rely on the strength of others after all, could she not?

* * *

><p>Hayate affixed the last of the pictures and wrote the caption in colored ink. Once everything was dried, she closed the scrapbook and set it on the counter, out of the way.<p>

No one came home that night.

Hayate cried herself to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>September 4, 0065<strong>

* * *

><p>By 5:00 pm the next day, Hayate had hidden all signs of her breakdown. Internally, however, she remained quite stressed as she rolled along towards the Takamachi homestead.<p>

Truthfully, there wasn't even a particularly good reason to tell the Takamachi's and their… friends?... allies?... permanent guests?... anything. There wasn't a good reason not to, either, but that didn't really justify this. Hayate supposed that the reason she was doing this was that other than Dr. Ishida, who doesn't know about magic, and Uncle Graham and his nieces, who had seemingly vanished off of the face of the Earth, the Takamachi and… affiliates?... were basically the only people she knew as more than passing acquaintances.

Come to think of it, that was rather pathetic.

Zafira knocked on the door and after a moment Kyouya opened it.

"Come on through," he said. "Since there are so many of us, we figured it would be best to use the dojo."

Which was fair enough, Hayate thought, as thirteen people was a lot to cram into a room in a Japanese house.

Looking around the wooden structure, Hayate swept her eyes over the Takamachi clan, suddenly nervous. Once everyone was inside the dojo, she licked her lips and spoke up.

"I know you are wondering what I wanted to tell you, but since I'm not really sure how to go about this I suppose the best way is to tell the story from the beginning."

Talking to so many people at once wasn't something Hayate was comfortable with, so she decided to try not to look at her audience and keep everything as simple as possible.

"A couple of months ago, during the dislocation, an artifact in my possession activated. The Book of Darkness," she held the Book before her, "designated me as its owner and materialized the four guardian knights, the Wolkenritter." She gestured to her companions. "At that time, Vita saved my life, and they took me to the hospital. When I woke up, they introduced themselves and explained things.

"The Wolkenritter protect and serve the owner of the Book and, traditionally, seek to fill the pages of the Book. The Book of Darkness collects both spells and mana in one go by absorbing linker cores – well, technically, scanning linker cores and draining mana from them. The mana absorbed is shown by way of the number of pages the Book has filled. The Book can expend both mana and pages to cast any spell it contains. If all 666 pages are filled, the Book recognizes its owner as its true master and grants them full administrative powers. Given the power and knowledge contained within the Book of Darknes, they could do nearly anything they wanted.

"While it would be nice to be able to walk again, I didn't want anyone to get hurt so I asked them to not try to fill the Book. After that the… hospital incident occurred, and we all know what that involved. A little while later, maybe a couple of days, I can't quite remember, the Book of Darkness began to fill itself.

"Looking back, I can see that we were just rationalizing thoughtlessly, but at the time we assumed that the Book was reallocating mana from the Wolkenritter. However, in reality the Book has been draining me in addition to the stress of maintaining the Book's functions. Unfortunately, my linker core can't handle it, and my body is paying the price. The paralysis that affects my legs is spreading, and will reach my vital organs a few months from now, though I'll probably die before my diaphragm is immobilized, as my organs will lose their functionality as the paralysis reaches them, and I can only survive without so many of them."

Before anyone else could really react, Yuuno nodded thoughtfully. "Alright, I'll do what I can."

"…Huh?" Vita said eloquently.

Yuuno blinked. "Um, you were going to ask me to help, right? I kind of assumed."

"I think we are all somewhat confused as to what help you are trying to offer," Shamal said diplomatically.

"I'm an archeologist." Yuuno said slowly. "The Book of Darkness is a Lost Logia. This sort of situation is something people in my line of work deal with on a regular basis."

"Do you think you can help?" Hayate asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"I can't promise anything," Yuuno cautioned. "For one, I'm working alone rather than with a team. Also, I have none of the specialized equipment I would normally use. And just by looking at it I can tell that the Book of Darkness is easily the most powerful and complex artifact I've ever studied. But this is something I am trained to do, and with your permission I'll do everything in my power to help."

And with that, there was hope, however slight.

…

…

…

[140/666]

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**I wonder how many people saw that coming? If you decide to review, let me know. I'm interested in finding out. It seemed logical to me, but on the other hand I can't recall ever reading a story where Yuuno actually got the opportunity to do this. But I basically cut the majority of the conflict of A's out after the fight at the hospital, so the doorway was opened for a peaceful attempt to solve the problem.**

**I think this chapter is one of the smaller ones, comprised of a comparatively small number of larger sections. I got some stuff I needed to have done completed, and I've set up the next stage of events. The last section, which has Hayate basically telling everyone what the audience already knows, was unavoidable because the plot can't progress without it. It's too important a scene to have occur off screen. It could probably be better, but it serves its purpose.**

**The Wolkenritter are not in a good place right now. Their master is dying, they can't heal her, and in fact the Book (and by extension them) is directly responsible for what is happening to Hayate. And they are utterly powerless to stop it. They aren't really acting up to their usual impossibly high standards of awesome – if they were thinking clearly they 1) wouldn't have left Hayate alone and 2) might have realized the possibility of Yuuno being useful. Or maybe not – while to everyone else the Book is a Lost Logia, to the Wolkenritter it is a constant fact of life. It's quite possible that the idea of an archeologist being able to help with it would never have occurred to them.**

* * *

><p><strong>Power levels in fiction are somewhat nebulous at best, but while I'm thinking about it let me try to give you an idea of where everyone is right now. When it comes to melee skill, the Wolkenritter are on the top, followed by Shirou, Kyouya, Miyuki, Fate, Arf, Yuuno, and Nanoha in that order. Everyone else isn't even worth mentioning, Nanoha only making the list because she's a main character. Flying skill, the Wolkenritter are on top, followed closely by Nanoha, and not so closely be Fate, Yuuno, and Arf. Shooting skill and bombardment magic, Nanoha is by now the clear winner, followed by Precia, Fate, then Arf and the Wolkenritter. Yuuno scores negative for hilarity. Defensive skill, Yuuno is flying high in the sky, followed far below by the Wolkenritter, then Nanoha, Arf and Fate, with Precia getting honorary mention at the bottom for creative and effective use of offensive spells. In terms of power levels, Precia and Hayate (who finally gets a mention) are at the top, followed by the Wolkenritter, Nanoha, Fate, Yuuno, and Arf.<strong>

**How does this translate to combat? Well, that depends on a lot of things, but what it really translates to is that the Wolkenritter rule the roost at the moment, and everyone knows it. **

**Nanoha has a lot of potential, but their skill set is a good counter for hers and their stats are through the roof – Precia on the other hand, she is likely able to squash like a bug at this point which may or may not have something to do with Hundreds of Hours of Obsessive Training to specifically defeat her. She can basically beat anyone no matter how strong they are if they consent to stand still, let her charge Starlight Breaker for long enough, and don't dodge – sadly, battle doesn't really work that way. Fortunately, she isn't a one trick pony – her faster shooting magics are very dangerous as well, just not the one hit kill everyone knows and loves.**

**Yuuno is an odd case – the only one who can actually beat him in any reasonable length of time is Nanoha (though Signum and Vita could probably get through after an hour or so of smashing), but he's utterly incapable of defeating anyone unless they make a really big mistake. Someone said on the tvtropes page for this fic that Yuuno is a stone wall. This is absolutely correct! In truth he's not a fighter – he's a survivor. His skill set makes him great for raiding booby trapped temples, but not so much for pitched battle. He's just nigh-impossible to kill. Admittedly, he could telefrag people using his theoretically absurdly broken Forced Teleportation – but fortunately for the show having a plot, he has about as much killer instinct as the average marshmallow.**

**Fate and Arf are the weakest of the bunch, which is utterly misleading considering that by any reasonable standards they are extremely powerful and capable. But of all of them, Fate and Arf are perhaps the ones who would benefit the most from the Cartridge System – without it Fate doesn't quite play the fragile speedster card well enough to take down any of the others, and her shooting and bombardment magics are overshadowed by Nanoha's – to put it another way, she's a very real threat, but Starlight Breaker beats Phalanx Shift any day of the week. Arf, on the other hand, fights like Zafira, only occasionally using shooting magic. Unfortunately, she's a lot weaker than Zafira and frankly the weakest of the lot except Hayate, who really is about as dangerous as Vita's hat (in other words, very, but only because of what the Wolkenritter will do to you if you hurt her). Still, they are both a force to be reckoned with – unlike, say, Miyuki, who is 'only' competent by the standards of the vast majority of the world's population.**


End file.
